Coal India's Production Touches All-time High Of 700 Million Tonnes

National miner Coal India Ltd (CIL) closed the financial year at a historic high of 700 million tonnes (MT) of coal production, which the company said has surpassed its output target. This is an increase of 12 per cent over last year’s production.

The record high incremental production of 81 MT is the highest since CIL's inception. The company said in a public statement that it produced 700.4 MT of coal till the penultimate day of FY23, with 100.4 per cent target satisfaction. It had produced 622.6 MT in the previous fiscal year.

“Overcoming the stiff target of 700 MT was a challenging task, but all our subsidiaries went the extra mile to chip in their best,” said a senior company executive.

CIL has seven subsidiaries in different coal bearing states. Of these, Mahandi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) clocked the highest production at 192 MT, contributing close to 25 per cent of the firm's total production. South East Coalfields Ltd (SECL) followed closely with 166 MT production during the financial year.

For financial year 2023-24, CIL is aiming at a production of 781 MT. The company in its statement claimed it has met its over burden removal (OBR) target for the first time in seven years. CIL’s OBR rose to a new record of 1,651.7 million cubic metres as of March 30, at 101.4 per cent of the target. The growth was 21.6 per cent over a similar period of FY22.

OBR is the first step towards mining coal in a new area. The faster and more the OBR, higher the chances of greater and quicker coal extraction. “Growth in OBR is an encouraging indicator and bodes well for CIL in ramping up the production in the first quarter of FY24, especially when faced with a challenging target of 780 MT. Exposing the coal seam for future readiness, OBR facilitates faster coal extraction,” said a CIL executive.

The record high production number of CIL comes ahead of the high demand summer months. In 2023, several states had complained of less than optimum coal supply during peak power demand months.

Recently, the union minister for coal said, “There won't be any shortage of coal during the peak power demand in summer. Both public and private players have been asked to raise coal production and prepare for the monsoon in June and July.”