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On power drive, OMDC seeks 4 coal mines

Never mind its iron ore mines are struggling to produce even a fistful of ores, but that has not stopped Orissa Mineral Development Corporation from applying for four coal mines as it spots some scope in power generation.

The iron ore mining arm of Rastriya Ispat Nigam (RINL) has applied for three coal blocks for commercial mining and one block for captive use under the Auction by Competitive bidding of Coal Mine Rule 2012, sources said.

The coal ministry, meanwhile, on Wednesday extended the last date for application from government companies till September 16. OMDC would need about 30 mw of power to run its planned 2 million tonnes pelletisation plant to be built in joint venture with RINL and Kudremukh Iron Ore at Thakurani in Odisha, details of which still remain sketchy.

With a likely expansion of the pellet plant by four fold to 8 million tonnes in a distant future, OMDC would need a total of 120 mw of generating capacity. Add to it OMDC’s requirement of power for running its own iron ore plant of about 15 mw.

Thus, OMDC would require about 135 mw of power, and since a captive power producer can sell up to 50% of its generation, there exists an opportunity to create close to 270 mw of generating capacity, officials reasoned.

Its requirement of coal for the next 30 years would touch the 210 million tonne mark.

The strategy is being worked out even as it struggles to start mining operations at some of its closed iron ore mines. OMDC has six mining lease at Barbil in Odisha, with reserves of about 206 million tonnes of iron ore and 44 million tonnes of manganese ore reserves, spread across six mines. But forest and environmental clearances and approvals for all the mines have lapsed and none of the mines are producing any ore as yet.

It won environmental clearance for Kolha-Roida mines a year ago, but mining permission is yet to be obtained.

source: DNA