Coal India to Open 2 New Mines

Ranchi, Jun 22 (PTI) Coal India arm Central Coalfields Ltd plans to bring two new coal mines into production in the current financial year which would ramp up its capacity by 10-12 million tonnes per annum, a top official said on Sunday.

The move assumes significance as Central Coalfields Ltd (CCL) aims to cross 110 million tonnes production in the current financial year and 150 million tonnes by 2030.

"We have planned to open two new mines this year," CCL Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) Nilendu Kumar Singh told reporters here.

The company plans to begin the production at Kotre Basantpur block (coking coal mine) with a peak rated capacity of 5 million tonnes (MT) by October. In the case of Chandragupt open cast project (non-coking coal) with a capacity of 15 million tonnes per annum (MTPA), the production is expected to start by March 2026.

The company produced 87.5 million tonnes of coal in FY25, the highest ever in the history of CCL. The CMD said CCL needs to begin the preparation from now to achieve the target of 150 million tonnes by 2030.

The company will focus on increasing the capacity of existing mines and expediting the pace of bringing the new mines into production to achieve the 150 MT target.

CCL currently operates 35 open-cast mines and three underground mines in 14 command areas across eight districts of Jharkhand.

Singh further said that the company also plans to come up with four new washeries with a combined capacity of around 14 million tonnes in another two to three years.

A coal washery cleans raw coal by removing impurities like ash, rocks, and other unwanted materials, improving its quality for various applications, particularly for use in power plants and steel mills.

The company at present has five coal washeries under operation (four coking coal and one non-coking coal), the CMD said.