New Delhi, Dec 3 (IANS) Parliament was informed on Wednesday that the Ministry of Coal has auctioned 133 coal mines in 12 rounds of auctions over the last five years which are expected to generate an annual revenue of Rs. 38,710 crore with a capital investment of Rs. 41,407 crore and provide employment to 3,73,199 people.

Union Minister of Coal and Mines G. Kishan Reddy said in a written reply in Lok Sabha that the peak rated capacity of these mines was 276.04 million tonnes per annum (MTPA).

He further stated that under the revenue sharing model, a total of 32 abandoned mines have been identified so far.

Letters of acceptance have been issued for 28 mines having 39.28 million tonnes a year capacity while four mines are in re-tendering stage. Coal production has started in two mines — PB Project of BCCL and Gopinathpur Project of ECL during FY 2025-26.

The minister said that the all India raw coal production target for the year 2025-26 is 1157 million tonnes (MT) out of which, the target of coal production of Coal India Ltd. (CIL) is 875 MT, for Singareni Collieries Co. Ltd (SCCL) is 72 MT, and that for captive, commercial and others is 210 MT. The Ministry of Coal has set an ambitious domestic coal production target of about 1.5 billion tonnes by FY 2029-30.

He explained that coal producing Public Sector Undertakings follow strict environmental norms for coal mining. Before starting any new project or for expansion of a coal mine project, environment clearances are obtained for which Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Environmental Management Plan (EMP) are prepared, and these are implemented in all the mines. Land reclamation is done as per approved mining plan and EMP.

To enhance coal quality while minimising environmental impact through the implementation of state-of-the-art beneficiation technologies, all newly-commissioned and planned washeries are equipped with advanced technological solutions, including Heavy Media Cyclone, Teeter Bed Separator, Spiral Concentrator and Froth Flotation Technology. All new washeries have been designed to achieve zero effluent discharge, the minister said.

Additionally, modernisation and renovation of existing ageing washeries have been taken up to enhance operational efficiency and reducing the environmental footprint of coal washing operations.

As regards coal gasification, the Government approved a comprehensive financial assistance scheme on January 24, 2024, with an outlay of ₹8,500 crore, to support coal and lignite gasification projects. Under this initiative, seven projects have been selected and they are at different stages of implementation and it is expected that they would utilise approximately 11.755 MT per annum of coal once they are commissioned, the minister said.

Coal India Limited is implementing the revival of certain legacy and non-operational underground mines through the Revenue Sharing Model for abandoned and discontinued coal mines. In Revenue sharing mode, CIL and its subsidiaries offer to re-open, salvage, rehabilitate, develop and operate any suitable discontinued mine through a mine developer and operator for excavation/extraction of coal and delivery thereof to CIL and a percentage of the revenue from the coal mined are shared with CI based on highest rate quoted in the bidding, the minister added.

–IANS

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