India to invest in coal washing capacity

India is to invest in its coal processing capacity with new coal washeries to be operational by next autumn, according to local press reports. The Coal Ministry told a Parliamentary Consultative Committee meeting in Tirupati, Uttar Pradesh, that India’s current coal washing capacity totalled 38 million tpa at 15 washeries.

An additional 15 plants were now planned to boost capacity and were expected to be operational by next September in order to help meet the demand for washed coal to comply with environmental regulations, the ministry said.

India has already been investing in its coal processing capacity with 63.8 million t of coal crushing capacity installed during last year and into this. This capacity comes in the form of mobile crushers and feeder breakers. Since January 2-16 it has been mandatory to supply correctly-sized coal to power sector consumers.

India has been successfully ramping up its production of coal to meet domestic power needs, aiming to produce over 700 million t by the end of the current fiscal year on 31 March. Over the previous fiscal year, the country produced a record 612 million t.

According to figures provided by the Coal Ministry to the Indian Cabinet, state-owned miners, Coal India (CIL) and SCCL has produced a total of 486.4 million t between April 2015 and the end of January 2016 compared to 441.6 million t over the same period in the previous year.

Edited from sources: Economic Times, Ministry of Coal by Jonathan Rowland

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