NMDC to seek coal ministry help to secure land for mining in Jharkhand
Informist, Tuesday, May 30, 2023
--Source: NMDC, coal min officials to meet soon over Jharkhand mines
-–NMDC aims to start coal mining at Tokisud in FY25
By Narayana Krishna
HYDERABAD - Public sector mining major NMDC Ltd plans to seek the coal ministry's help to acquire land for mining in the Tokisud north and Rohne coal blocks in Jharkhand, a senior official of the company told Informist.
In the next few days, a delegation from the company plans to meet senior officials from the Union coal ministry, including the coal secretary, the official said.
The company has faced issues related to land ownership, as some private land also falls under these mining areas.
The Tokisud north block, spread over 570 ha, was earlier allocated to GVK Group, which failed to start mining operations due to legal issues around the land marked for mining. Subsequently, the coal ministry took back the block and allocated it to NMDC, but the legal issues remained unresolved.
At least 50-75 ha of land is under litigation related to local tribal laws, the official said, adding that the Rohne block, which is spread over 1,200 ha, is also facing similar issues.
The two blocks are located within 20 km of each other in Hazaribagh district.
NMDC is likely to seek the coal ministry's help to enforce the Coal Bearing Areas (Acquisition and Development) Act, 1957, which makes it easy to earmark land with coal reserves and use it for mining. This could also help avoid legal challenges to an extent and resolve the issues in commencing mining operations, the official explained.
NMDC has already secured all regulatory approvals to begin mining in the Tokisud block, and is in the process of doing so for the Rohne block.
If all issues are resolved, the company plans to begin coal mining in Tokisud in 2024-25 (Apr-Mar), though mining at Rohne may take some more time, the official said.
While the Rohne coal block has about 191 mln tn of coal and coking coal reserves, the company had announced it would produce 8 mln tn a year, once it starts operations. At Tokisud, which has thermal coal reserves of about 52 mln tn, the company aims to produce about 2.3 mln tn a year.
NMDC, India's largest iron ore producer, has obtained coal blocks as part of its long-term strategy to get into other minerals.
At 1320 IST, shares of NMDC were at 107.40 rupees on the National Stock Exchange, up 0.5%. End
