Hyderabad: Singareni Collieries Company Limited secured preliminary environmental clearance for the Ramagundam coal mine from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
The approval, communicated on Friday, marked a key step for the project that had awaited clearance for a long period. Officials said the formal environmental clearance documents were expected within 10 days.
The company said the Ramagundam coal mine had been designed as its largest project, with a planned annual production capacity of 21 million tonnes. It added that the project would help offset declining output from ageing mines while tapping significant coal reserves.
SCCL stated that the project would enable the extraction of 314.98 million tonnes of recoverable coal. These reserves are spread across two opencast mines and three underground mines that already hold basic approvals.
Ramagundam coal mine to boost output and lifespan
The company said coal produced from the Ramagundam coal mine would be supplied mainly to NTPC Ramagundam and other coal-based industries under existing fuel supply agreements.
It added that the project aimed to recover remaining reserves from the closed GDK-10 Incline Mine and the soon-to-close Vakilpalli underground mine by converting them into opencast operations. These mining areas were integrated into a single project to optimise output.
SCCL said the plan would utilise existing approvals efficiently while keeping additional investment low and minimising environmental impact. The company added that the project would extend the operational life of the Ramagundam region by about 25 years.
Officials noted that underground mining often leaves behind coal reserves. Therefore, SCCL has previously converted such mines into opencast operations to recover remaining resources. This approach has now been incorporated into the Ramagundam coal mine project as a unified model.