SOME BASIC FIGURES ON COAL MINING

2003-2004 total production: 355 million tonnes (excluding Meghalaya). India's lignite reserves are estimated at 6.5 billion tonnes. Domestic supplies satisfy most of India's overall coal demand, but not for coking coal, which is imported from Australia. Import duties were recently cut.

Openpit mines constitute 81% of production. Several openpit mines producing more than 10 million tonnes of coal annually are in operation.

70% of coal production is used for power generation.

88% of total coal production is by the 390 mines owned by the public sector company Coal India Limited and its subsidiaries (Central Coalfields, Eastern Coalfields (Sanctoria), Bharat Coking Coal (Dhanbad), Northern Coalfields (Nagpur), Western Coalfields, Southern Eastern Coalfields (Bilaspur), Mahanandi Coalfields (Sambalpur) and the Central Mine Planning & Design Institute (CMPDI) at Ranchi). The only other major producer is Singerani Collieries Company in Andhra Pradesh.

As of 2004, private coal mines were only allowed as mines for a specific industry. This has most likely changed in the interim (as of August 2007).

Source: "MBendi Profile: India - Mining: Coal Mining", http://www.mbendi.co.za/indy/ming/coal/as/in/p0005.htm, last accessed in June 2007.