ECL's Lalmatia mine output likely to fall 30% in Jan

Production from the Lalmatia open cast coal mine of Eastern Coalfields Ltd (ECL), a CIL arm, is likely to fall by about 30 per cent in January, an official said.

A few days back, around 18 miners lost their lives in a mine collapse at Lalmatia in Godda district of Jharkhand.

Lalmatia open cast mine, which has a capacity of 17 million tonnes per annum, may produce around 1.4 million tonnes of the fossil fuel in the ongoing month, the official said.

In December, the mine had produced 2 million tonnes of fossil fuel, he added.

"We expect that the mine may produce 1.4 million tonnes of coal in January if the production from the mine either starts from Saturday or the day after tomorrow," the official said.

Rescue operations in the mine has been temporarily put on hold, the official added.

Coal India, which accounts for over 80 per cent of the domestic production, is eyeing 1 billion tonnes of output by 2020.