Indian state-run miner Coal India Limited (CIL) has drawn up plans to revive production from 12 abandoned underground mines including four underground coking coal mines operated by its wholly owned subsidiary Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL), the country’s sole domestic supplier of coking coal, a company official said on Thursday, September 17.
The official said that the process of reviving the abandoned mines has been “fast-tracked” with CIL’s consultancy wing Central Mines, Planning Development Institute Limited (CMPDIL) tasked with preparing a detailed report on the process of reviving these underground mines.
Several underground mines operated by various wholly owned subsidiaries of CIL had been abandoned owing to exhaustion of reserves but operations had been halted in several underground mines owing to geological challenges and deep-seated reserves which could be overcome by induction of the latest mining technology now available.
The four underground mines under BCCL which have been identified for revival had estimated aggregate reserves of 464 million mt and restarting mining operations in these mines would contribute largely toward mitigating coking coal import dependency of local steel mills, the official said.