The Hindu Business Line : Bharat Coking Coal to hike production capacity for SAIL's consumption

BHARAT Coking Coal Ltd (BCCL), a financially weak subsidiary of Coal India Ltd (CIL), has agreed to augment coking coal production capacity at its Monidihi underground mine by at least 40 lakh tonnes a year exclusively for Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL)'s consumption.

The capacity will be created in two phases by replacing the existing long-wall equipment at the mine with the latest long-wall technology. Global tenders have been floated inviting bids for such technology. Almost the entire cost of capacity addition will be borne by SAIL.

The Chairman & Managing Director of BCCL, Mr Parth Bhattacharya, told Business Line that the company agreed to take up the capacity creation programme in the aftermath of a financial offer by SAIL, which recently offered to invest about Rs 311 crore for such a programme. Accordingly, BCCL proposes to invest about Rs 166 crore in the first phase and about Rs 145 crore in the second phase. Both phases would be completed in the next six years.

Mr Bhattacharya said the company would take up jobs for modernising its existing seven coking coal washeries so that it could offer more washed coking coal to steel plants. In the process, the company would be able to maximise its sales realisation.

Modernisation plans

A Rs 54-crore modernisation programme had recently been sanctioned by the company's board.

In addition to this, Bharat Coking Coal is currently implementing a Rs 300-crore modernisation programme to revamp the existing equipment and machines operating in 78 mines. Of the total operating mines, 16 are opencast while the rest are underground.

Mr Bhattacharya said the company expects to earn a cash profit during the current fiscal ending March 2006 as against a substantial loss during the last several years. It has set a production target of about 23.3 million tonnes (mt) for the current fiscal as against last year's production of about 22.3 mt. Of the targeted production, 5-6 mt would be coking coal and the balance17-18 mt would be non-coking coal.