Coal India Ltd (CIL) has proposed its capex plan to the tune of approx. Rs 16,500 crore for this fiscal (FY 2022-23). The proposed capital would be invested in ramping up of its production capacity and evacuation of infrastructure.
While, CIL had spent close to Rs 6,600 crore on capex in 2019-20, in Fy20-21 this was increased by double to Rs 13,500 crore and was further scaled up to Rs 15,400 crore in FY 21-22. Now, for this fiscal CIL has earmarked a capex of Rs 16,500 crore.
In the mining segment, the Board of CIL and its subsidiary companies have approved 16 mining projects in FY 2021-22. These 16 projects are having a cumulative capacity of 99.84 million tonne per annum. These projects are likley to commence production soon. CIL has completed five mining projects having a capacity of 12.60 million tonne per year in FY22.
Meanwhile, the company has adopted a transformational plan for operationalising 14 mines through engagement of Mine Developer cum Operators (MDO), having capacity of 165.58 million tonne per annum. These mines are likley to contribute in sizeable quantities towards production in the future. Of these, 10 mines are opencast projects with total projected capacity of 161.50 million tonne per annum and four underground mining projects with total capacity of 4.08 million tonne per annum. While, Letter of Acceptance (LoA) has been issued to six of the successful bidders for these MDO projects having a total capacity of 96.74 million tonne per annum, tender has been floated for seven more mining projects (5 OC and 2 UG) with capacity of 58.84 million tonne per annum.
Moreover, Coal India is also planning to set up a coal-to-chemical (C2C) plant utilising high ash coal to produce ammonium nitrate at Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) in Odisha. Ammonium nitrate is an important component in manufacturing of explosives, extensively used in the CIL mines. The C2C plant would cater to the requirement of coal producing subsidiaries.
The pre-feasibility studies were completed for the integrated Coal-to-Chemical (C2C) plant that will utilise low-ash coal. Tendering is under process. These plants are proposed to be located near mine heads of ECL, SECL and WCL to produce methanol, ammonia and ammonium nitrate respectively.
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