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The Chotia coal mine is operated by Bharat Aluminum Co. Limited (BALCO) in Salaigot, Teshil Podiuprodha, District Korba, State Chhattisgarh India.[1]
Location
The map below shows the location of the Chotia mines, in Salaigot, Korba, Chhattisgarh, India.[2]
Background on Mine
The Chotia coal mine has a designed capacity of 1 million tonne-per-annum capacity on a mining lease area of 1179.826 Ha.
This block was earlier allocated to Prakash Industries Limited (PIL) which secured the environment clearance for 1 MTPA rpdocution of Chotia-I on 10 November 2015.[3] However, in the wake of coalgate scandal Supreme Court of India, cancelled all allocated coal blocks in Aug 2014. Post cancellation, Govt of India promulgated "Coal Mines (Special Provision) Ordinance" and coal blocks were auction through a electronic bidding process. BALCO won this mine in that bidding process and the said mine was handed over with the existing infrastructure to Balco after making the required payment.[4]
The Chotia coal mines consists of two sub blocks namely Chotia I and Chotia II having mining lease area of 863.00 Ha and 316.826 Ha respectively with a common lease area of 1179.826 Ha. As per the "Coal Mine Development Agreement" (CMDPA), signed between BALCO and Ministry of Coal, BALCO has to annually produce 1 MTPA coal from Chotia.
The first Mining Plan prepared by PIL was approved by MoC in 2004 vide no. 13016/22/2003-CA dated 04.08.2004 and thereafter opencast operation was started in 2006. Subsequently, PIL conducted further exploration in two phases and based on the outcome, the GR was revised and accordingly Mining Plan was revised two times and approved by Ministry of Coal vide reference nos. 13016/22/2003-CA-1 and 13016/22/2003-CA-1 (Vol-III). The 2nd and the last revision of Mining Plan stipulated a peak production capacity of 1Mtpa coal.
The mine has been operational since 2006 and has been producing 1 MTPA from Chotia I. The open castable reserve of Chotia I has almost exhausted. To maintain the existing production level of 1 MTPA from the mine, the change in environmental clearance is envisaged. The Chotia coal mine which consist of Chotia I & II sub block is allocated for use of coal at BALCO's 600 MW Captive Power Plant at Korba District to meet its power requirement for manufacturing of Aluminium products.[2]
Mine Details
- Sponsor: Bharat Aluminum Co. Ltd (BALCO)[5]
- Location: Chhattisgarh, India.
- Coordinates: 22.780896, 82.476655
- Status: Operating[5]
- Capacity: 1 million tonnes[2]
- Production: 1 million tonnes (2020)
- Reserves: 11.46 million tonnes (Proven and Probable, 2015) [6]
- Resources: 14 million tonnes [6]
- In service: 2006
- Permits: Environment Clearance for Chotia-I, MoEF&CC India, 10 November, 2005, Pre-Feasibility Report, MoEF&CC India, August 2015
- Coal type: Non-coking
- Mining method: opencast
- Source of financing:
Articles and resources
References
- ↑ Operations, Bharat Aluminum Co. Ltd, accessed March 3, 2020.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Pre-Feasibility Report, MoEF&CC India, August 2015
- ↑ Environment Clearance for Chotia-I, MoEF&CC India, 10 November, 2005
- ↑ Balco wins the coal block Chotia in Chhattisgarh in Tuesday’s auction, 18 February 2015, site accessed on 10 April, 2020
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Rakhi Mazumdar, Vedanta group's Balco inaugurates new coal mine, Economic Times, November 7, 2015.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Environmental Clearance, "Pre-Feasability Report for Choita Coal Mines", Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEF&CC), Accessed June 2021
