CIL finalises Rs 5,900 cr heavy machinery contracts to bolster production

Coal India Ltd, the world's largest miner, has finalised contracts for heavy earth moving equipment worth over Rs 5,900 crore to ramp up production, its Chairman Pramod Agrawal said on Wednesday.

The miner is also planning a capex of Rs 10,000 crore during the current fiscal.

Early this year, the company had said it was looking at spending around Rs 7,000 crore on heavy equipment to bolster production.

"Heavy earth moving machinery worth over Rs 5900 crore has been finalised for augmentation of coal production and improving age profile of equipment," Agrawal told shareholders at the annual general meeting.

To make a quantum jump in output, Mine Development and Operator (MDO) documents for open cast and underground mines have also been finalised with valuable input from all stakeholders approved by the CIL board, he said.

Four tenders have already been floated, of which three are for Central Coalfields and one for Mahanadi Coalfields with 20-25 years of contract period.

Tenders for 10 more mines would be floated shortly, and the documents for abandoned mines are under review to make use of advanced technology to augment production further, he said in his address.

Eighteen mining project reports have been cleared by Coal India and subsidiary companies last fiscal with a rated capacity of 132.04 million tonne per annum and sanctioned capital of Rs 21,244.55 crore.

The Kolkata-headquartered mining major has set a production target of 650-660 million tonne in the 2020-21 fiscal as against 602 million tonne a year ago.