Kolkata-based Indian state-controlled coal mining company Coal India Limited (CIL) has set a target of producing 59.77 million mt of coking coal in the 2017-18 financial year, about eight percent higher than production in the previous fiscal year, a senior government official said on Friday, April 21.
The official said increasing production of coking coal is in line with the government’s directive to increase domestic coking coal production and reduce the dependency of Indian steel mills on imports of the raw material. However, he said that there are severe limitations facing the rapid ramping-up of production because of the inherent paucity of the natural resources in India.
Accordingly, CIL is focusing and making progress in acquiring coking coal assets and is carrying out its search for assets in locations such as the US, Indonesia, South Africa and Australia, the official said.
However, over the past three months, CIL has zeroed in on Australia as the Australian government has put on offer three coking coal blocks and the Indian miner is holding negotiations for the acquisition of these assets, the official said. He added that, since CIL has decided to acquire operational coking coal mines and is not interested in developing greenfield projects overseas, the Indian miner is optimistic over making such acquisitions in Australia.