New Delhi: Coal India's subsidiary Western Coalfield Ltd has been accorded environmental clearances for expansion of its two coal mining projects in Maharashtra at an estimated investment of about Rs 181 crore.
The clearance by the Environment Ministry will help the state-owned Coal India achieve the targeted one billion tonne of coal production by 2020. At present, the coal output is around 500 million tonnes.
According to the Ministry, the green nod has been given to the Western Coalfield Ltd (WCL) for expansion of the 'Bhatadi open-cast coal mining project' and 'Gouri Deep mines project' in Chandrapur district, Maharashtra.
The Bhatadi project has coal linkage with thermal power plants of Mahagenco, while the Gouri Deep Mines has similar linkage with Ultra Tech Cements.
"The ministry hereby accords environmental clearance (EC) for the expansion of 'Bhatadi Open cast project' from 0.65 million tonne per annum (MTPA) to 0.975 MTPA within the existing mining lease area of 847.37 hectare," the ministry said in a letter to the company.
The validity of the EC for Bhatadi project is for liftime of the mine, that is 18 years. Total cost of the project is Rs 94.81 crore, it said. The mine has 'E' grade coal.
The Ministry said that the EC has been granted to Bhatadi project only for the non-forest area and also the forest area within the mining lease for which Forest Clearance is available.
Of total mining lease area, forest land is 0.20 hectare. The mine has total geological reserve of 45.71 million tonnes. Mineable reserve is 23.56 million tonnes and extractable reserve is 21.21 million tonnes.
The ministry said that WCL should complete acquisition of land for the project by March 2016. So far, the company has acquired 357.45 hectare of farm land.
In case of the Gouri Deep Mines project, the Ministry said that it has given EC for expansion of the project from 0.40 MTPA to 0.60 MTPA in a mining lease area of 356.11 hectare with some conditions.
The validity of the EC for the project is for liftime of the mine, that is 15 years. Total cost of the project is Rs 86.21 crore, it said.
The mine has geological reserve of 15.24 million tonnes. The mineable reserve is 7.66 million tonnes and extractable reserve is 7.66 million tonnes, it added.
