Coal India to soon open 32 stressed mines to meet energy demands

New Delhi: Coal Producing Major, Coal India is going to rejuvenate around 32 defunct mines and is preparing to launch up to five new green-field projects this financial year.

This action came as country’s energy output needs to chase the meeting needs of capabilities of its renewable infrastructure, supporting the power generation gap between energy demand and clean power supply.

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Coal India Chairman and Managing Director PM Prasad has stated that the mines that were considered to be unable to function properly due to reliance on manual mining and outdated machinery, will now be revived through revenue-sharing agreements along with private partners. It is expected that around six of these mines will resume production in the financial year 2025-26.

As a power generation source, Coal continues to be a crucial fuel to generate around 74% of electricity as of 2024. Despite this, the government projections illustrate that this figure will come to 55% by 2030 and 27% by 2047.

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Mr Prasad has been assured that Coal India will reach to its peak coal by 2035, emphasizing the importance of Coal as of now. However, the country is witnessing this revival in a time when major economies are leaning towards non-fossil fuels structure. Coal India has identified a total of 299 coal mines as abandoned, discontinued, or closed over the past decade. According to a press release, the central government has said that total of 108 mines have been marked for final closure and 20 are for temporary closure by Coal India Ltd and SCCL.

Yet only three have been formally closed under government guidelines. This delay is attributed to so many factors such as financial constraints, administrative obstructions and land reclamation’s complex process and environmental rehabilitation.

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