ECL goes for underground mininig in big way

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

Kolkata, Mar 29 (UNI) The Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL) has identified two huge underground coal mines at Raniganj in West Bengal for full scale operartion by next year.

''This will boost production of better quality coal to meet the industrial requirement,'' ECL Chairman and Managing Director Deepak Chakravarty announced here today while sharing the company's financial performance for the current fiscal with the media.

Mr Chakravarty said besides doubling the capacity of three operating underground mines in West Bengal and Jharkhand, ECL had decided to join hands with a leading Australian mining company to start mining in two newly identified underground mines at Tilaboni and Madhujhore near Raniganj expectedly from next year.

This was in accordance with the recently announced policy by the coal ministry that underground coal production be hiked by at least 30 per cent by all operating agencies to meet the increasing demand from the industry.

''Each of these two mines,having a total estimated reserves of 300 million tonnes,would be capable of producing five million tonnes of coal every year for the next three decades,'' Mr Chakravarty said adding that altogether about 16 million tonnes of high quality underground coal would be explored by ECL to contribute to the targetted national kitty of 73 million tonnes. Apart from ECL,the Western and Southern Coalfields would boost their production level.

This would open a new chapter in the area of industrial growth in West Bengal as the new two five million tonne capacity mines would not only bring in more revenue to the state exchequer but also generate employment opportunity following the introduction of modern mining methods by the Australian partners, Mr Chakravarty said.

Referring to the ongoing turnaround programmes of ECL which earned a record net profit of Rs 363.86 crores last year after suffering losses for more than a decade,its CMD said during the current financial year(2006-07)the margin of profitability would be reduced to Rs 100 crores mainly because of higher expenditure under different heads and exhorbitant operational costs.

As far as his plan to boost ECL's production capacity from the present around 33 million tonnes a year to nearly 47 million tonnes by 2012-13, Mr Chakravarty said to improve the overall conditions of all the 115 mines under its operation,ECL planned to invest Rs 2591.40 crores over the next seven years from its internal resources. ''Of these Rs 162 crores has so far been spent for this purpose,'' he said.

''We are also planning to introduce two greenfield projects at Chupervita in Jharkhand and Hura in West Bengal for four and three million tonne production respectively to meet the increased production level,'' Mr Chakravarty said adding though the Public Investment Board had approved the projects, they were awaiting a nod from the Centre.

All these efforts would go a long way in helping ECL to come out of BIFR by 2008-09, which is a year earlier than scheduled, he said.

Asked about steps to improve the safety and security of ECL's 99150 employees,Mr Chakravarty said apart from spending about Rs 300 crores, the company had started safety auditing and set up a new department under the leadership of General Manager level officer to oversee the entire efforts.

Claiminig that the number of accidents and human casualty had been reduced in ECL mines over the past few years,the CMD said during the last three years the number of casualties had been reduced from 16, to 14 to 13, which was among the lowest in the country among all other mininig companies.

UNI

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