The company has allocated $370m to produce four-million tons a year of coking coal from Tasra and a further 50 000 t/y from Sitanalla part of the Jharia coalfields.
Work will also include a pithead beneficiation plant at Tasra.
SAIL has domestic supplies of four-million tons of coking coal from captive mines and from government-owned Coal India (CIL) presently and the rest is imported.
The company consumes some 14-million tons of coking coal a year to produce 16-million tons of hot metal, and the coal consumption is expected to increase to 21-million tons by 2013.
The Tasra and Sitanalla reserves were originally owned by the largest coal miner, CIL which has later been taken over by the Indian Iron and Steel Company (IISCO), reports miningweekly.com.
SAIL raw materials division executive director N M Rai said with coking coal constituting 30% of the company’s cost of production, achieving raw material security is very crucial as its steel production capacity is being increased to 23-million tons.
