India’s Ministry of Steel is seeking private investment to set up at least 20 pithead-based coal washeries to go into production by 2020, a government official said on Thursday, September 21.
The official said that, with construction of these pithead coal washeries, at least 30 percent of total thermal coal produced in the country could be made suitable for use in blast furnaces and reduce imported coking coal requirements by 85 percent.
The construction of 20 new coal washeries will commence with the auctioning of 10 coal blocks for commercial mining by private sector mining companies, the official said.
The auction of the 10 blocks to private sector miners will mark the end of exclusive coal mining by government companies since the Coal Mines Nationalization Act 1973, he added.
While private sector miners of coal will be free to produce and commercially sell coal to any consumer, the government has made it mandatory for these miners to set up coal washeries linked to the mines and this will enable part of the coal mines to be converted, suitable for consumption by domestic steel mills, the official said.