Coal news and updates

WBMDTC plans to focus on non-coal segments

October 20: West Bengal Mineral Development and Trading Corporation (WBMDTC), which is going to face cancellation of its coal blocks as per the recent Supreme Court judgment, has planned to concentrate on non-coal minerals segment, going forward.

“We will now concentrate more on non-coal segments. In fact, coal has been only a recent addition to our portfolio, whereas our presence in non-coal minerals is much older,” a company source told ICMW.

WBMDTC had been allocated seven coal blocks, of which only one, ie, Trans Damodar Coal Mining Project at Barjora, has started production. However, after the Supreme Court judgment on September 24, even the sole operating block is going to be cancelled and the company has to withdraw its operations by March 2015.

“As it stands now, we are in the coal business till March 2015. We cannot speak about the future of this vertical. Thus, we will concentrate more on non-coal areas,” the official said.

WBMDTC has a presence in black stone (basalt), apatite, rock phosphate and quartz, among others. However, the revenue share of coal and non-coal segments stands at 85:15 and the company needs to augment revenues from non-coal areas to compensate for any possible decline in coal revenues in the future.