The Hindu Business Line : `CIL must focus on supplying quality coal'

Even as Coal India Ltd (CIL) has achieved impressive growth both in physical and financial performance with a turnover of about Rs 35,000 crore and a pre-tax profit of about Rs 8,300 crore in 2005-06, its image may not improve as producer of quality coal, according to Mr P.S. Bhattacharyya, Chairman & Managing Director of Bharat Coking Coal Ltd (BCCL).

Addressing the technical session of a national conference on `India's energy security: coal and alternative energy resources', Mr Bhattacharyya said that CIL should urgently address the issue and move to a situation where coal of only pre-determined quality is maintained consistently and offered for supply.

This could be done only by taking recourse to large-scale beneficiation of non-coking coal.

The conference was organised by the Indian School of Mines Alumni Association.

COAL MINES

Mr Bhattacharyya said that the coal mining scenario in the country has changed altogether in the last decade. Even after meeting all investment requirements for growth in coal production, the coal companies are now in a position to invest comfortably on coal beneficiation.

Moreover, the capital cost per million tonnes of raw coal throughput is reportedly much lower in the new generation washeries.

Hence, in the foreseeable future coal companies will decide to supply only washed non-coking coal to thermal power plants and notify prices accordingly, at least for other than pit head plants in the first instance and extend to all power plants at a later point of time, he added.

Earlier, the CIL Chariman, Mr Shashi Kumar, said that it was a mistake on his part resisting CIL and its subsidiaries to go in for new washeries.

Coal production has increased manifold over the last decades while most of the coal produced today (about 83 per cent) is from open cast mines, that too from coalfields known for high-ash coal.

Moreover, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to achieve pre-determined quality standards while supplying run-of-the-mill (ROM) coal from open cast mines.

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