Seeking to improve the quality of their coking coal, state-owned miner Coal India informed it would be setting up eight new coking coal washeries, with a combined washing capacity of 21.5 million tonnes a year, at an estimated capital outlay of ₹3,300 crores.

Of the eight washeries, five would be set up by the Jharkhand-headquartered Central Coalfields Ltd. They would have a cumulative capacity of 14.5 million tonnes a year. The remainder would be with Bharat Coking Coal Ltd. They would account for a cumulative capacity of 7 million tonnes a year.

Coal India expects to make the eight washeries operational by FY30.

Additionally, the Kolkata-headquartered miner would also be spending ₹300 crore in renovation and modernisation of its existing coking coal washeries. At present, CIL operates 10 such washeries that account for a cumulative capacity of 18.35 million tonnes a year.

“This calibrated expansion of washing capacity and modernisation is to improve domestic coking coal quality and also is an effort to moderate import dependence in the coming years,” the miner stated.

Essential to note, India has an estimated 37.37 billion tonnes of coking coal resources, largely located in Jharkhand, with additional reserves in Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh. Notwithstanding the domestic availability, approximately 95% of coking coal requirements of the domestic steel sector is met through imports.

In fact, the union government had notified coking coal as a strategic and critical mineral in January this year.

“Though India is well endowed with coal reserves, inherently, domestic coking coal resources are scarce. Compounding this, the ash content ranges from 25% to 45% much higher than other countries globally, making the import necessary,” Coal India observed.