South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL), a subsidiary of Coal India Limited (CIL), will set up a 5 MTPA Coal Washery at Baroud in the Raigarh district of Chhattisgarh.
The proposed project is a part of CIL’s venture of setting up washeries at its various subsidiaries in order to improve the quality of coal by removing ash and other useless consitituents. The coal quality improvement initiative is aimed at rendering the coal competitive with imported variants.
In this regard, the decision of the Coal Ministry to improve domestic coal also comes into the picture. The Ministry has decided to allow transportation of coal, the grades above the G10 grade, only after washed subsequent to 1 Oct’17.
SECL has estimated a timeline of 18 months in setting up the washery, which will be constructed on a Build-Operate-Maintain (BOM) basis. The operator who will be awarded the project of setting up the washery will also run it on a BOM basis. SECL will provide capital funding and other infrastructure facilities in setting up the washery.
Also, CIL has set up 15 new washeries, with the cumulative capacity of 112.6 MnT/Annum, to cater to the growing need for improving the coal quality. Out of the total washeries, six pertain to Coking Coal, with the combined capacity of 112.6 MnT/Annum; while, the other 9 are Non Coking Coal washeries, with 18.6 MnT of cumulative capacity. Moreover, 3 washeries, bearing the total capacity of 11.6 MnT/Annum, are in the process of construction.
SECL has set an ambitious production target of 250 MnT from its underground and open-cast mines by FY20.
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