CIL's production during Apr-Dec jumps 16%

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], January 2 : With no slackening in the double-digit output growth since the start of this fiscal, Coal India (CIL) on Monday said its production surged to 479 million tonne (mt) for the period ending December 2022 (FY23), achieving 101.4 per cent of the progressive target. CIL pipped the target by 6.7 mt.
The year-on-year increase in quantum terms was a humungous 65.4 mt in the nine-month period of 2022-23 (FY23), logging a robust 16 per cent growth. All the subsidiaries of CIL have posted double-digit growth.
"To outdo the annual output target of 700 mt, CIL has to produce 221 mt in Q4 FY23 against 209 mt for the comparable quarter last fiscal. Our production pace is already up and expected to rise higher. Another point in our favour is large quantities of over-burden removal. We feel positive about scaling over the output target," said a senior executive of the company.
In many mineral industries, like coal industry, in open cast mines, coal can be extracted only after removing layers of soil, stone etc. This soil and stone etc is known as over burden. The removal of this over-burden is known as over-burden removal (OBR) and involves heavy cost.
The production of 66.4 mt for the month of December 2022 was the highest in this fiscal so far. CIL's production was 6.2 mt higher than the production in the corresponding month last year with a 10.3 per cent growth of 10.3 per cent.
Growth of 19.2 per cent in over burden removal (OBR) at the end of the current fiscal's December is an encouraging stimulus for CIL to ramp up its output in the coming months. Exposing the coal seams through OBR makes future coal extraction easier.
OBR also overshot the progressive target achieving 100.8 per cent satisfaction. CIL excavated 1,154 million cubic metres (MCuM) of OBR till the end of December 2022 against 968.6 MCuM of the corresponding period last year. OBR for the month logged 29 per cent growth.
CIL supplied close to 508 mt of coal to all consuming units in April-December 2022 with a volume expansion of 26 mt. This reflects 5.4 per cent growth over 481.6 mt in the same period last year. CIL supplied 2.6 mt more coal over the progressive target, posting 100.5 per cent achievement.
Coal supplies to the power sector during April-December 2022 which was at 432.7 mt, went up by a strong 42.5 mt, clocking an 11 per cent y-o-y growth. CIL supplied 390.2 mt to coal-fired plants in the corresponding period last year. On the back of increased production, CIL supplied 10.5 mt to non-power sector in December, the highest for the fiscal so far. CIL closed December 2022 with coal stock of 32 mt at its pitheads.