Government identifies four new blocks for enhancing coking coal production

To enhance coking coal production, the government has identified four blocks while geological reports of up to six more such reserves may be finalised soon, official sources said.

Coal India Ltd (CIL) plans to increase raw coking coal production from existing mines to up to 26 million tonnes by 2025.

The country's largest producer of coal has also identified nine new mines with peak rate capacity of about 22 million tonnes, to enhance coking coal production, sources added.

Coking coal is essentially required for production of steel.

The Central Mine Planning and Design Institute (CMPDI) is likely to finalise the geological reports of up to six new coking coal blocks in the coming months, the sources said.

These blocks may be offered in subsequent rounds of auction to private sector to further increase domestic raw coking coal supply.

In addition to these efforts, CIL has also offered eight discontinued coking coal mines, out of the total 30 discontinued mines, on an innovative model of revenue sharing to the private sector with a peak rate capacity of 2 million tonnes.

With these measures being undertaken by the coal ministry under Aatmanirbhar Bharat, domestic raw coking coal production is likely to reach 140 million tonnes by 2030, sources added.