Coal Ministry

India records historic growth in coal output at 982 MT in FY23: Joshi

India has recorded historic growth in its coal output at 982.21 million tonnes (MT) in 2022-23, Union Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi said on Saturday. At 982 MT, the country's total coal production is 14.65 per cent higher from 778.21 MT produced in the 2021-22 fiscal, the minister said in a statement. "This is a historic moment for the coal sector. I congratulate all the coal warriors and stakeholders for the record growth. Despite the stiff targets, CIL, SCCL, along with captive & commercial mines have produced more than 892 MT of coal in FY23," Joshi said. He said Coal India Ltd (CIL) has done a tremendous job by surpassing its FY23 fiscal's target and produced 703.20 MT of coal, which is 12.94 per cent up from 622.63 MT in 2021-22. Further Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) produced 67.14 MT as against 65.02 MT a year ago, registering a rise of 3.25 per cent. The captive & commercial mines producers produced 121.88 MT coal, up 34.59 per cent from 90.56 MT in the ...

India to start coal export by 2025-26, says Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi

Asserting that India has adequate coal reserves, Union Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi on Wednesday said the country will start exporting the dry fuel by 2025-26. From a net importer of coal, India is moving towards becoming a net exporter of non-coking coal, Joshi said on the sidelines of the seventh round of auctions for commercial mining of coal blocks in the national capital. The minister also assured of an uninterrupted supply of coal in the approaching summer season -- when the peak demand is expected to be 229 GW during April. Domestic demand for coal is estimated to reach 1,087 million tonnes in the ongoing financial year. The industry meets some parts of its requirements through imports. According to the Coal Ministry, India's cumulative total estimated coal reserve as of April 1, 2022, was 3.61 lakh million tonnes (MT). On a question related to imports, he said India's imports of substitutable coal were 90 MT, which will be stopped by 2025-26 when the country will start ...

Govt to auction 27 more coal mines starting February 27

The coal ministry on Wednesday said that 27 coal mines would be put on sale in the next round of commercial mines auction starting from February 27. The auction process for 141 coal and lignite mines was launched by the coal ministry in November last year. "After completion of technical evaluation, 27 coal mines which received more than one bid, will be put up for forward auction from Monday, February 27, 2023 onwards," the ministry said in a statement. In a bid to familiarise bidders with the auction process, mock e-auction will be conducted on February 24. According to the statement, the ministry launched the 6th round and 2nd attempt of 5th round of commercial coal mines auctions on November 3, 2022, which received unprecedented response from industry. "96 bids were received for 36 coal mines, including participation from many first time bidders, reflecting the enthusiasm among the bidders and the positive sentiment about coal mining sector," it added.

Mines ministry in process of identifying mineral blocks in sea: Secretary

The government is in the process of identifying mineral blocks like nickel in the sea and would gradually put them on sale, mines secretary Vivek Bharadwaj said on Friday. The mines ministry is amending the Offshore Areas Mineral (Development and Regulation) Act, 2002 and has sought the stakeholders' views on the same. "Because the critical minerals are becoming even more critical, there is this thought that why are we not mining in the oceans...Unfortunately we have not been able to mine the oceans. Now we are amending the Act. It is in public domain, open for comments for the industry, the stakeholders," the mines secretary said during Metal & Metallurgy Expo-2023 organised by CII. The ministry, he said, is in the process of identifying these blocks in the sea and as there are no stakes in there, the auction will be done by the government of India. "That will also be a huge opportunity for industry, a totally new area of operations," he explained. Critical minerals such as ...

Coal minister Joshi asks CIL to remove bottlenecks to boost production

Minister of Coal and Parliamentary Affairs Prahlad Joshi on Tuesday urged coal companies to identify and remove production bottlenecks in order to further increase dry fuel production

Cess on public sector coal production set to rise to fund pension corpus

Financial mismanagement of the pension scheme has depleted corpus meant for pensioners of public sector mines

JSPL, NTPC, Vedanta among 59 firms that submitted bids for 36 coal blocks

The government on Tuesday said that 59 companies, including JSPL, NTPC and Vedanta, have submitted bids for 36 coal blocks that were put up for sale under the commercial mines auction. A total of 96 bids were submitted for the coal blocks. "A total of 96 bids were received under two tranches of commercial coal mine auctions," the coal ministry said in a statement. This is the highest ever bids received since the launch of commercial coal mines auction in the year 2020, the ministry said, adding, a "total of six public sector companies had submitted the bids in the ongoing round of commercial coal mines' auction as well". "Under sixth tranche of auctions, a total of 86 bids both online and offline were received against 32 coal mines and three bids were received only offline but not online, and two or more bids have been received for 25 coal mines i.e. 79 bids (both online and offline) against 25 coal mines, and 7 coal mines have received single bids (both online and offline)," the

Government receives 99 bids for 36 coal mines under commercial auction

A total of 99 bids for 36 coal mines were received by the Coal Ministry for the sixth round and second attempt of fifth round of commercial coal block auctions, which it had launched on Nov 3, 2022

Coal Ministry offers relaxation in revision of Performance Bank Guarantee

Coal Ministry Offered relaxation in Revision of Performance Bank Guarantee and extended Bid due date for Commercial Coal Block auction upto January 30

Targeting to double coal inventory with power plants by March: Coal secy

Coal Secretary Amrit Lal Meena said all the coal companies of national miner Coal India (CIL) had more coal than their targeted production for the upcoming summer season

Coal India subsidiary NCL to start M-Sand production, says ministry

State-owned Coal India's subsidiary NCL will soon start production of M-Sand, a material used for construction works. Northern Coalfields Ltd (NCL) will start production of M-Sand or Manufactured Sand for its Amlohri project in Madhya Pradesh, according to a coal ministry statement on Tuesday. M-Sand is artificial sand produced from crushing hard stones into small sand-sized angular shaped particles, washed and finely graded to be used as construction aggregate. It is an alternative to river sand for construction works. NCL is all set to start production of M-Sand and the move is aimed at maximising the utilisation of natural resources and minimising the adverse impact of mining. Eyeing business diversification while focusing on the ecological balance, the company has set up a sand manufacturing plant using its over burden as a raw material. This pro-environment move of the company will help in conserving river bed erosion and preserve aquatic ecosystems, as per the ...

Coal production rises 16% at 608 mn tonnes during Apr-Dec period of FY23

Coal Ministry sources said that production has increased due to greater usage of mining capacities of captive coal blocks

Coal ministry to take up additional 19 first mile connectivity projects

The Centre on Monday said an additional 19 first mile connectivity projects of state-owned CIL and SCCL will be implemented by 2026-27. First mile connectivity refers to the transportation of coal from pitheads to dispatch points. "The Ministry of Coal will be taking up additional 19 First Mile Connectivity (FMC) projects for Coal India Ltd (CIL) and Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) with a capacity of 330 million tonnes (MT) and these projects will be implemented by FY26-27," the ministry said in a statement. The ministry has already undertaken 55 first mile connectivity projects worth Rs 18,000 crore. Out these 55 projects, eight having a capacity of 95.5 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) have been commissioned and the remaining will be commissioned by FY25. To ensure efficient and environment-friendly coal evacuation, the government is working on the development of the National Coal Logistic Plan, including first mile connectivity through railway sidings near coal mines and

Coal ministry identifies 4 coking coal blocks for auction to pvt sector

The Coal Ministry has identified four coking coal mines to be offered in subsequent rounds of auction for the private sector to further increase domestic raw coking coal supply, an official release said on Wednesday. The Central Mine Planning and Design Institute (CMPDI) also will finalise Geological Report (GR) for four to six new coking coal blocks in the coming months, he ministry said in a release. "In order to further step up coking coal production, the Ministry of Coal has identified four coking coal blocks and the Central Mine Planning and Design Institute (CMPDI) also will finalize Geological Report (GR) for 4 to 6 new coking coal blocks in the coming months," it stated. These blocks may be offered in subsequent rounds of auction for private sector to further increase domestic raw coking coal supply. Coking coal is a key input in steel making and the country remains dependent on imports to meet 85 per cent of its coking coal needs. With these measures, domestic raw coking

CIL's coal quality soars 18%, tech in place to improve the quality further

There has been improvement in conformity to declared grade of coal supply from Coal India Ltd sources, with figure jumping to 69% in 2022-23 as against 51% in 2017-18, the Coal Ministry said

2023 could be another strong yr for coal as demand may reach record levels

Coal India, companies with captive coal mines in steel, power and other sectors will be at an advantage

No scope for special treatment to any state in coal block allocation: Govt

The coal ministry on Friday said there is no special rule or scope of giving special treatment to any one state in allocation of coal blocks. The statement comes in the wake of media reports about Telangana industries and commerce minister K T Ramarao's allegation that a large number of lignite mines were allocated to Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation (GMDC) following the nomination method. "It has come to the notice of the ministry of coal about allegations of giving preferential treatment to one state government in allocation of coal blocks, which is false and not based on facts," the coal ministry said. "...the question of preferring one state as claimed is baseless and misleading," the statement said. The ministry further explained that two lignite blocks were allotted to GMDC in 2015 and similarly, three coal blocks were allotted to SCCL, a unit owned by the government of Telangana. Out of three coal mines allocated to SCCL, Pengaddppa and New Patrapara blocks have bee

Coal pensioners protest in capital, demand review of pension scheme

Agitators seek dearness relief as scheme component to ensure equitable pension; want adherence to provisions of CMPS 1998 on review and revision of pension every three years

Asset monetisation of Rs 33,422 cr in FY23 so far, Coal Min leads

The government has monetised assets worth Rs 33,422 crore under the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) in 2022-23 so far, with the Coal Ministry leading the list by raising Rs 17,000 crore, and the Ports and Shipping Ministry surpassing its overall fiscal target, according to sources. In 2021-22, the government surpassed the programme's first-year target of Rs 88,000 crore by completing transactions worth Rs 1 lakh crore. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in a meeting with Niti Aayog CEO Parameswaran Iyer on November 14 reviewed the progress of NMP implementation. Sources told PTI that according to the government's latest estimate, there is likely to be a shortfall of Rs 38,243 crore in realising the overall asset monetisation target of Rs 1,62,422 crore in 2022-23. "Likely realisation from asset monetisation under NMP in the current fiscal has been now estimated at Rs 1,24,179 crore," they said. According to sources, while the Ministry of Coal, the Ministry of Mines, and t

Coal India banks on South Eastern Coalfields for output in Chhattisgarh

CIL has set a target of 700 million tonnes (MT) for FY23