Coal India orders giant mining shovels

Coal India Ltd has placed an order for two giant (91.7 tonne pay load each) electric mining shovels with 17-year maintenance and repair contract (MARC) worth Rs 590 crore to the US-based P&H Mining Equipment Inc on Monday. According to the CIL chairman, Mr Partha S Bhattacharyya, the equipment will be delivered in 13 months.

With this, CIL has completed awarding nearly Rs 1,500 crore worth of tenders for procurement of mining equipment. CIL previously awarded a Rs 524 crore contract for 240-tonne dumpers (16) to Bucyrus (now acquired by Caterpillar) also based in the US.

The shovels and the 240-tonne dumpers will be used in Gebra and Deepka mines in Chhattisgarh producing 60 million tonnes of coal annually. This is almost equal to the combined production of CIL's subsidiaries Eastern Coalfields Ltd and Bharat Coking Coal Ltd in West Bengal and Jharkhand.

According to the company, the two mines already have three such shovels and the availability of the new shovels will enhance the over-burden removal capacity. The existing shovels at Gebra and Deepka were procured from Bucyrus in 2008

Cheaper rate

Interestingly, according to Mr Bhattacharyya, the latest purchase of shovels from P&H has come “seven per cent cheaper” compared to the shovels supplied by Bucyrus in 2008.