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After selling around 30 million tonnes of coal via e-auction in the first half of 2022-23, Coal India Limited (CIL) is targeting 50 million sales in the second half of the current fiscal year. In the fiscal year 2021-23, the company sold 108 million tonnes through e-auctions.
“We are targeting another 50 million tonnes in e-auction sales for the year,” Coal India Chairman Pramod Agrawal said on the sidelines of Global Mining Summit 2022, organized by CII.
During the second quarter of the current fiscal (July-September) Coal India sold 10.36 million tonnes of coal via e-auction at an average realization of ₹6,061 per tonne. The top officer of the company also informed that the company is focusing on evacuation and sustainability.
Agrawal said that production will not be a problem, but tagged evacuation as a challenge. “The company was investing heavily in the first-mile connectivity and mechanized evacuation. In the next 3-4 years, most of the evacuation exercise will be mechanized,” he said.
He also informed that during the July-September quarter the PSU sold 141 million tonnes of dry fuel through a fuel supply agreement with an average realization of Rs. 1,413 per tonne.
The Chairman also stressed that the mining sector will be critical for Indian growth. The comments came at a time when the world leaders are attending COP 27 in Egypt and the European Union on Tuesday, supported India’s call to phase down all fossil fuels and not just coal.
“We are in support of any call to phase down all fossil fuels. But we also have to make sure that this call does not diminish the earlier agreements we had on phasing down coal, so if it comes on top of what we already agreed in Glasgow, then the EU will support this proposal,” chief of climate policy for EU, Frans Timmermans said.