India’s Ministry of Coal stated that the country has increased the production of coal by 47% across the last nine years. India’s supply of coal has risen by 45.7% in this time, achieving more than 877 million tonnes.
The country has set a target of producing 140 million tonnes of coking coal by 2030.
A statement from the Ministry of Coal stated: “It is expected that 25 coal mines will be allocated during FY 2023–24 for commercial mining.”
A statement from the Ministry of Coal stated: “It is expected that 25 coal mines will be allocated during FY 2023–24 for commercial mining.”
In 2021, the Indian Government announced ‘Mission Coking Coal’, a plan to enhance metallurgical coal production in the country. The Ministry of Coal stated: “[Mission Coking Coal] has made recommendations majorly relating to new exploration, enhancing production, enhancing washing capacity, auction of new coking coal mines.” It has two tenets: “1) Enhancing coking coal production from 52 Million Tonne (MT) in FY 2022 to 140 MT in FY 2030. 2) Enhancing coking coal washing capacity from 23 MT in FY 2022 to 61 MT in FY 2023.” Because domestic coked coal has a very high ash concentration, it must be washed for usage in blast furnaces.
Mining Technology parent company GlobalData’s estimates from 2022 suggest that 5–7% of all coal produced in India was metallurgical coking coal, an essential component for usage in blast furnaces. This has forced India’s construction industry to rely on imported coke in its production. As part of the Indian Government’s strategy to achieve self-reliance, coking coal production is being pushed. By comparison, global coal production only grew by 0.9% in 2022, of which India produced a major share; 12.7% of coal produced worldwide in 2022 was coking coal.
