Coal Stock Adequate for 90 Days Available: Kishan Reddy
Hyderabad: Union Coal and Mines Minister G Kishan Reddy said on Monday that more than 200 million tonnes of coal stock is available in the country to last 90 days. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a roadshow organized by the Mines Ministry on the 7th Tranche Auction of critical mineral blocks and Tranche-2 Exploration License here, he said one billion tons of coal production was achieved in the country for the second year in a row.
“Today, there is enough coal for 90 days in both thermal power plants and mining pits. We used to have enough coal for 21-25 days. But today, we have over 200 million tons of coal to last 90 days.”
He said the Center aims to reduce import dependency and make the country ‘atma nirbhar’ (self-reliant) in the mining sector. “I want to say this on behalf of the Centre. The government does not work to generate income in the mining sector. It is taking great steps to make the country nirbhar in the mining sector,” he said.
Observing that there are many opportunities for extraction of critical minerals in future urban mining and gasification of coal, he urged the private sector to work with PSUs, state governments and others.
Reddy said there was a possibility that 30-40 percent of the critical minerals required for the country could be extracted through scrap obtained from urban mining. He said the government has prepared an action plan to extract critical minerals from refrigerators, air conditioners and others by collecting scrap from every town.
Union Mining Secretary Piyush Goyal said that during FY 2025-26, a record 212 mining blocks were auctioned compared to 364 blocks auctioned in the previous four years, and the total has gone up to 684 blocks since the introduction of the auction regime in 2015.
In the critical mining segment, 22 block tenders were held during the year. Thus, a total of 71 critical mineral blocks have been auctioned so far, of which 46 by the Center and 25 by the state governments.
He said that the 7th Tranche of critical and strategic mining block auctions, consisting of 19 blocks, 17 composite licenses and two mining leases, was launched on March 23.
He said that the critical mineral is the sunrise sector and its importance will increase with each passing year. He said that over the past few years, the Ministry has undertaken a series of path-breaking reforms aimed at increasing transparency, improving efficiency and accelerating the pace of operationalisation.
