| Mohite was here to inaugurate of extension of Western Coalfields Ltd's Gondegaon mine at Ghatrona village near Kanhan here. |
| A special team comprising officials from the Geological Survey of India and Mineral Exploration Corporation Ltd has been formed to submit the report. |
| "Preliminary investigations have revealed that there are reserves of Tungsten and Manganese near Kuhi," Mohite said. "Apart from these, there are huge reserves of coal in this region, especially in Naad near Bhiwapur." |
| The Union minister said the team will also carry out investigations in Narkhed Taluka in Nagpur district and Bazaargaon village on Amravati Road. |
| He added that the white paper will also have details about the viability of mining of the reserves. "As far as coal is concerned, the report will also work out the calorific value of the fossil fuel." |
| On National Thermal Power Corporation's (NTPC) proposed 1000 mw thermal power project at Mouda, Mohite said there would be no dearth of coal for the project. |
| His remarks are pertinent in the light of Western Coalfields categorically ruling out any possible increase in the current production level. |
| Earlier, Western Coalfields pointed out that production from all identified new mines will only go towards maintaining the present output as old mines will also have to be closed gradually. |
| "If Vidarbha has coal for exporting to other states, its reserves will not be allowed to fall short for a thermal power project coming up in the region itself," said Mohite. |
| Incidentally, the coal ministry has also tentatively approved opening of new mines in the Baranj coal block of Chandrapur district. |
| Coal from these mines have been earmarked for the Karnataka State Electricity Board's Bellary project. |
| Earlier, it was supposed that these mines would cater to NTPCs' Mouda project or Maharashtra State Electricity Board. |
| Although Mohite did not specify any alternative arrangement for the needs of NTPC or MSEB, he said that a screening committee of the coal ministry would be meeting soon to discuss the issue. |
| "The government can allot coal linkage to a core project on priority basis too." Mohite said NTPC was kept its options open to enter captive coal mining under a joint venture. |
| "Instead of merely depending on the Western Coalfields for coal linkage there are several other modes of procuring coal." |
| Meanwhile, Prahlad Patel, minister of state for coal, Ashok Mehta, chairman and managing director of Western Coalfields, Lalit Mohan, director (technical), were also present at the inaugural function of extension of Western Coalfields' Gondegaon mine. |
| The extension of the mine is expected to increase Western Coalfields' output from the mine to 15 lakh tonne per annum from the current level of 10 lakh tonne per year. |
| The coal firm invested Rs 27 crore in the expansion. The mine, which is expected to last for 29 years, has a total coal reserve of 173 lakh tonne and the annual production target is 7.5 lakh tonne. |
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