KOLKATA (miningweekly.com) – India’s Forest and Environment Ministry has approved the expansion of the Junad opencast mine in the western province of Maharashtra, subject to strict conditions.
The mine, owned and operated by Western Coalfields Limited (WCL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Coal India Limited, would be expanded to produce 1.5-million tonnes a year, from current production of 600 000 t/y, at an investment of around $9-million to $10-million.
The environment clearance (EC) approval permitted the miner to expand its area of operations at Junad from 174 ha to 449 ha.
However, WCL would be required to maintain an afforestation area of 210 ha. The expanded project would also need to maintain a final mine void of not more than 40 m.
The EC approval also required a minimum spend on corporate social responsibility of Rs5/t ($0.075/t) of coal produced.
The Junad coal block was estimated to have a reserve of 15-million tonnes and an extractable reserve of 6.13-million tonnes, which gave it a life of 11 years.