Coal India ‘s exploration arm added 7.8 billion tons of coal to India’s proven reserve base in 2019-20, the largest in a year to date, according to the report.
It also added 9.75 billion tons of reserves to the new resource category, which is a rough estimate based on preliminary exploration. These involved detailed exploration of 128 blocks and regional exploration of 17 blocks of coal and lignite. India’s proven coal reserves, based on detailed exploration, are estimated to be 155.6 billion tonnes, compared to approximately 326 billion tonnes, as of April 2019.
In 2019-20, the exploration arm, Central Mine Planning & Design Institute Ltd, carried out 1,294 million meters of drilling under detailed exploration against its target of 1,4 million metres. 116,000 meters of drilling under promotional and regional exploration were also carried out against a target of 153,000 metres.
The exploration arm is exploring coal and lignite on behalf of the Government and Coal India. It also explored the blocks offered by the Center for Commercial Mining. The Center has offered 41 blocks with a total reserve of 17 billion tonnes, which can produce 225 million tons of coal a year.
CMPDIL has also prepared 32 project reports with an additional production capacity of approximately 178 million tons per year. These projects would be undertaken by Coal India in the near future and would help the company to meet its one billion-ton production target by 2024.
