Owing to a delay in the finalisation of overburden removal contracts and land issues, Coal India’s production during May this year, fell by 1.1 per cent to 46.59 million tonnes (mt) as the miner was able to produce around 1.5 mt of coal daily.
Overburden removal refers to the removal of top-soil to expose the coal seams making them ready for mining. Any delay in this process impacts the future-readiness of the company to sustain output levels.
In March this year, the state-owned miner was to register a daily output of 2.55 mt, which declined to 1.46 mt in April, primarily on account of a lack of exposed coal seams.
“Last year, many overburden removal contracts couldn’t be finalised which has now impacted production. However, the issue has been addressed and output is likely to increase in the coming months”, a company executive said.
