CIL plans 52 coal mining projects to reach 1 billion tonnes by FY26

State-owned Coal India (CIL) has drawn up plans for 52 coal mining projects, including 13 new coal blocks, to reach its target of producing one billion tonnes of coal by the financial year 2025-26, a company official said. The official said that in addition to the expansion and greenfield projects, CIL is also trying to increase its underground coal mining operations to produce better grades of coal that will help reduce India's coal imports. Of the 52 projects, eight are underground projects. CIL produced 703 million tonnes of coal in the financial year 2022-23 and has a target of producing 780 million tonnes in the current financial year. It has set a target of producing one billion tonnes of coal by the financial year 2025-26, by which time the coal minister has said India will start exporting coal. These coal projects will contribute a total of 271 million tonnes of coal to CIL's production in the financial year 2025-26. Their total peak rated capacity, which will come into effect in different years for different coal mining projects until the financial year 2030-31, will be 445 million tonnes. The maximum number of coal projects are coming up in Jharkhand, with the Central Coalfields Limited working on 15 and Bharat Coking Coal Limited working on one. Ten projects are coming up in Maharashtra and nine in Chhattisgarh. CIL, through its various subsidiaries, has lined up 13 new mining projects and these will add 27.4 million tonnes in the financial year 2025-26. The peak rated capacity of the greenfield projects is 130 million tonnes, or 29% of the total peak rated capacity of the 52 projects. The state-owned coal major is focusing on green mining options in an effort to reduce the adverse impact on the environment. It plans to increase its underground coal production fourfold from the current 26 million tonnes in the financial year 2022-23 to 100 million tonnes by the financial year 2027-28. Underground coal mining is environmentally clean, minimally invasive on land degradation and is friendly to society. We now have the mass production technology to make underground mining more viable, the official said. In addition, at the current rate of mining, the coal reserves at existing opencast mines will reach their ultimate pit level within a decade, the official added. Also Read RITES seeks bids for NLC India railway siding bridge Panel of experts proposes plan to revamp Indian Power Market