MCL eyes 15% output growth

 This is expected to generate an additional royalty of Rs 50 crore for the state government.

 The scale up in production target is attributed to additional demand for eight million tonnes of coal from NTPC power station at Kaniha and Simadri, Nalco power plant, Tamil Nadu Electricity Board, Andhra Pradesh Electricity Board and Karnataka state.

 Even West Bengal, a coal producing state, has orders for coal in MCL to meet the demands of its power producing units, said Ram Kumar Chechani, chairman and managing director of MCL.

 According to Chechani, there is a heavy demand for MCL coal mainly due to three factors-low price, supply reliability and good quality. The price of MCL coal is the cheapest in the world, he claimed, adding for the last two years, coal price has been revised keeping consumer interest in mind.

 The introduction of surface miners in open cast coalmines of the company has helped in producing better quality and desired size of coal in an environment friendly manner.

 Unlike the past, when millions of tonnes of coal used to be stock piled in wait of buyers, the pitheads of coal mines are now empty because of current demand surge, Chechani said, adding, there is a gap between demand and output.

 During the rainy season, when usually there is a slump in demand, the monthly demand is pegged at at five million tonnes against production of 4.6 million tonnes of coal at MCL.

 The demand surge scenario has necessitated opening of new mines like Kanraj at Talcher, he added.