Minister Pralhad Joshi Reviews Coal Production from Commercial and Captive Mines

Union Minister of Coal, Mines and Parliamentary Affairs Shri Pralhad Joshi reviewed the coal production performance of commercial and captive mines in a meeting with senior officials of the Ministry of Coal here yesterday. In a tweet, the Minister said that production from captive and commercial coal mines has been steadily increasing over the years, registering 216 % growth during the last six years. In yesterday’s meeting, Shri Joshi deliberated on ways to increase coal production by 39% in this fiscal from commercial and captive mines. The Minister also took stock of production from underground coal mines and emphasized on Underground Coal Mine Mission Plan to achieve 100 million tonne coal production.

In June 2020, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi launched the first-ever commercial coal mines auction under the CM (SP) Act of 2015/ MMDR Act of 1957. So far, six tranches of commercial coal mines auctions have been completed and a total of 86 coal mines with a total annual production capacity of 218.9 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) have been successfully auctioned. The 7^th tranche of commercial coal mines auctions offering a total of 98 mines is in progress.

Prior to the start of commercial coal mine auctions, the average duration for operationalization of coal mines was around five years. However, the average duration of operationalization of coal mines after commercial auctions has been reduced considerably and the result is already seen in the contribution of production from the commercial mines. The first commercial coal mine started production within one year of its allocation. Coal production from commercial coal mines in FY 2021-22 was 1.15 million tonnes (MT) and 7.12 MT in FY 2022-23 with four commercial coal blocks i.e. Sulyari, Garepalma IV/1, Garepalma IV/7 and Gotitoriamines. It is expected that additional six commercially auctioned coal mines are likely to be operationalized in FY 2023-24 with expected coal production of 12.2 million tonnes (MT).

Disclaimer: This is an official press release by Pib.