CIL working on coal import plan with MMTC

Public sector coal major, Coal India Limited(CIL) is in the process of negotiations with Metals and Minerals Trading Corporation(MMTC) as well as port authorities for importing coal, a process which had been pending for quite a while.

"CIL will carry out a study as to what will be the quantum of imports and also make an assesssment on the import requirements of the different sectors. We are lokking at ports for import of coal", Partha S Bhattacharyya, chairman of CIL told reporters onnthe sidelines of the company's 32nd Foundation Day here.

CIL can now import coal now that the Centre has notified the new coal distribution policy.

However, Bhattacharyya categorically stated the imports are not meant for power and fertiliser sectors which have already been importing coal for meeting their needs.

CIL's coal imports would mainly cater to the requirements of railways and defence.

The country imported 23 million ton of non-cooking coal and 22 million ton of metallurgical coal in 2006-07.

When asked what would be the criteria for imports, Bhattacharyya replied, CIL will import coal from those countries which supply high quality coal at competitive prices.

In another significant develoment, CIL would resume e-auctioning of coal by Novemeber 18, Bhattachayya said.

The resumption of the e-auction mode of selling coal implies that all consumers, regardless of whether they have linkages or not can procure coal.

In another development, the draft note empowering CIL for acquisition of overseas coal mines on lease is under the Centre's consideration.

"Once the draft note is finalised, CIL will have greater autonomy in acquiring mines abroad on lease. CIL had floated a subsidiary called Coal Videsh LImited(CVL) for overseas acquisition and what we need is autonomy on the lines of ONGC Videsh", he alleged.

The CIL chairman also underscored the need for reversing the trend of coal production from underground mines which has been on a persistent decline. Our coal production from underground mines dipped by aroud 5 per cent during the 10th Five Year Plan Period but we have targeted to step up our underground coal production by 10 million ton by 2012.

"Underground mining is highly uneconomic at this stage in India but we need to enhance production from these mines. Productivity of open cast mines also needs to be ramped up as India's coal output does not compare favourably with countries like US and China despite the presence of plentiful reserves", RN Sharma, former chairman of CIL said.

"Our capacity to drill coal has been limited and in the future our dependence on coal is set to go up due to the spiralling prices of global crude oil," he added.

In a parallel development, CIL has decided to foray into power generation by setting up power plants in two of its subsidiaries- Norhtern Coalfieds Limited(NCL) and Mahanadi Coalfileds Lmited(MCL), NC Jha, director(technical) said without elaborating further.

Jha pointed out that CIL is also working on various projects related to coal gassification. CIL, which came into being in 1975 had a production of 79 million ton in 1975-76 which has scaled upto 361 million ton in 2006-07.