Mines should be allotted under 'govt dispensation' route: SAIL

The PSU is in the process of doubling its joint venture captive power generation capacity to around 2,500 Mw

State-owned SAIL has urged the Coal Ministry to allocate mines under "government dispensation" route, saying it would help the steel PSU augment its production capacity.

"SAIL plans to further expand its production capacity to 50 MTPA (million tonnes per annum) by 2025, which will increase the company's coking coal requirement to 43 MTPA....We would request Ministry of Coal for allocation of...Coal blocks to SAIL under "government dispensation" route to meet captive requirements," the steel PSU said in a letter to the Coal Ministry.

Some of the coking coal blocks which SAIL has requested for, includes Rabodih OCP (in Jharkhand), Pachmo (in Jharkhand), Kotre-Basantpur (in Jharkhand), Kulti (in West Bengal) and Parbatpur Central mine in Jharkhand.

Some of the thermal blocks it has sought for allocation are Talabira-II in Odisha, Rampia & Dip Side of Rampia in Odisha, Gare Palma Sector-II in Chhattisgarh, Rawanwara North in MP and Pachawara Central in Jharkhand, among others.

The company further said it is presently undergoing a massive modernisation and expansion programme due to which its hot metal production capacity would go up to 23.46 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) by 2015 from the current level of 14.4 MTPA.

As a result the coking coal requirement of SAIL will increase to 21 MTPA from the present level of about 13.5 MTPA, it said.

SAIL's experience in mining business for more than five decades makes it well placed for development (including FC & EC which are the major challenges), management and operation of new mines. Allocation of these blocks to SAIL will raise the indigenous coking coal component to around 40-50 per cent of the total requirement, it said.

The letter further said that the PSU is in the process of doubling its joint venture (along with NTPC and DVC) captive power generation capacity to around 2,500 MW to cater to the much enhanced power requirement after its on-going capacity expansion.

Further, SAIL is putting up a plant for production of sponge iron through DRI (Direct Reduced Iron) route at alloy steels plant, Durgapur to make alloy steel through Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) route.

"These would entail substantial quantity of additional requirements for thermal and sponge grade coals, for which we would also request for allocation of a few non-coking coal blocks located near the Sail steel plants. The blocks can be developed into large mines, the output of which, after meeting the requirements of SAIL, could be shared with other users, viz., both thermal power and sponge iron producers," it said.