SAIL-BCCL sign MoU for dev of Moonidih coal mine seam

New Delhi, Apr 27 (UNI) Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), the country's largest integrated iron and steel producer, today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Bharat Coking Coal Ltd (BCCL) for development of the sixteen top seam of BCCL's Moonidih mine in Jharkhand.

The project envisages procurement of long wall equipment which will help to provide additional supplies of around 0.5 million tonnes (MT) of prime washed coking coal to SAIL.

Currently, SAIL has around 4 MT of prime and medium coking coal from various subsidiaries of Coal India Ltd (CIL), mainly BCCL.

The MoU, was signed by SAIL Director (Personnel) S K Roongta and BCCL Chairman &Managing Director P S Bhattacharya.

The agreement is part of the ongoing efforts of the two companies to maximise indigenous supplies of coking coal in order to reduce dependence on imports.

As envisaged by SAIL's Corporate Plan, the company's annual requirement of coking coal will go up to around 22 MT by 2011-12.

SAIL expects that about 8-10 MT of this requirement will come from indigenous sources. Consequently, BCCL has launched a number of initiatives to maximise coking coal supplies to SAIL.

Under the MoU, SAIL will extend fund support amounting to Rs 166 crore to BCCL to enable development of 16 top seam at Moonidih.

SAIL also plans to enter into a strategic partnership with BCCL in the future for development of seam 15 of Moonidih mine, and Kapuria mine.

Calling the MoU a "landmark", SAIL Chairman V S Jain said on the occasion that the decision of BCCL to concentrate on increasing supplies of coking coal would benefit SAIL substantially.

"We should also explore the possibility of joining hands to look at coking coal sources abroad," he added.

BCCL Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) P S Bhattacharya, said that the MoU was the first of its kind for his company which had so far received funding from CIL for its mining operations.

He also said that he looked forward to similar collaborations in future.

UNI MP ARB VC1840