Coal news and updates

MoEFCC grants EC to WCL’s Bhatadi mine expansion

April 2: The Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change (MoEFCC) has granted environmental clearances (EC) to the Bhatadi open cast mine in Maharashtra under Western Coalfields Limited to increase mining by around 50%.

The Bhatadi mine had, till now, the environmental clearance to mine up to 0.650 million tons per annum (mtpa) of coal, but with the new clearance it will be able to mine 0.975 mtpa.

The EC was granted vide a letter dated March 19.

The mine has total geological reserves of 45.71 mt of ‘E’ grade coal and minable reserves of 23.57 mt, while the extractable reserves are at 21.21 mt.