Indian government-run miner Coal India Limited (CIL) will construct eight greenfield coal washeries entailing investments to the tune of $348 million to augment supplies to large user industries including steel, the miner said in a statement on Monday, March 30.
The eight new washeries will have a combined capacity of 21.5 million mt and will be completed by 2029-30, the company said.
These will be in addition to two proposed coal washeries in Odisha with a combined capacity of 15 million mt per year, which were announced by CIL last week.
Currently, CIL has 79 coal washeries with a combined capacity of 39.5 million mt per year.
The miner will also invest an additional $3 million to modernize its existing washeries to augment output and increase efficiencies.
Separately, Coal India is undertaking renovation and modernization of two ageing washeries to improve throughput, recovery efficiency and process reliability. In a public-private partnership model, the miner is collaborating with Tata Steel Limted to leverage washing capacity and technical expertise to boost the supply of quality coking coal to the domestic steel sector.