RAIPUR: The Coal India Limited (CIL), a Maharatna company, has begun the process to make available its closed underground mines to private players for operations through allocation under the Mine Developer-cum-Operator contract and profit-sharing model.
The CIL will ask for bids for 20 of its mines that were closed down for security and commercial reasons. They were earlier operated by CIL’s various subsidiaries, including the Chhattisgarh-based South Eastern Coalfield Limited (SECL). There are 293 such closed mines of CIL located in seven states.
The decision to engage the private players in mining operations was taken to ease the coal shortage that eventually affected power production and created a major crisis across the country. Since April, the SECL alone has increased its daily production by 1.25 lakh tonnes, to mitigate the coal crisis.
“The available coal reserves in the closed mines are of a good grade. The discontinued mines are barely 6-12 years old and the eligible private firms can conveniently restart the excavation. Such an initiative will help in a big way to enhance the availability of coal and reduce its import,” said Sanish Chandra, SECL spokesperson.
The chas identified four mines which, according to the Central Mine Planning and Design Institute Limited under the Coal Ministry, will yield at least 31 million tonnes high-quality non-coking coal. There are similar coal reserves in other subsidiary companies. The process of allotting the mines through a tender would be completed by August 6, officials said.
CIL mines produce 83% of India’s coal