00:00 Hello and welcome to BQ Prime.
00:01 I'm your host, Vikas Shrivastava.
00:03 Today we are standing at the massive coal site
00:07 of NLC India Limited in Talaveera in Odisha.
00:11 This is the mine which was deallocated
00:14 from Mahanadi Coal Limited in Dalco and NLC India in 2014,
00:19 but it was reallocated to NLC India in 2016.
00:23 Since then, the mine has started operations in 2020,
00:27 and now has an annual rated capacity
00:30 of around 10 million tons per annum.
00:32 It has the capacity or the potential
00:34 to go up to 20 million tons,
00:36 and even if required or as the demand would go up,
00:40 they can even ramp it up to 30 or 40 million tons.
00:43 We have with us Mr. Franklin Jaykumar.
00:47 He's the executive director of Talaveera Coal Mines
00:51 of NLC India Limited.
00:53 He will take us through to the entire,
00:56 what is the current status of the mine
00:58 and what is the kind of peak requirement
00:59 that they are catering to.
01:01 Welcome to BQ Prime, Mr. Franklin.
01:03 - Hello, welcome.
01:04 - Yeah, so basically I just wanted to understand
01:07 from our readers or from our audience's perspective
01:11 that what is the current rated capacity
01:13 that you all are producing this mine from
01:15 and what is the potential reserves that we have from you?
01:18 - Well, you know, this mine has got a huge reserve
01:21 of 554 million tons,
01:24 of which we have so far extracted around 17 million tons.
01:27 Since 2019, we have commenced the mining operations here
01:30 and we are working in the range of 10 million tons.
01:32 Last year, we had actually 10 million tons.
01:34 This year, we are aiming at an aspirational target
01:37 of 14.4 million tons.
01:39 Next year also, we will be going up to 16 million tons.
01:42 So we have got a very good potential
01:44 to even ramp up to any level,
01:47 to a tune of 20 million tons or so.
01:49 So as and when the demand goes up,
01:51 as for the demand of the country,
01:53 we are totally gearing up ourselves
01:54 to raise up to the occasion
01:55 and we'll be producing in the tune of 20 million tons around.
01:59 So this is how this mine is going
02:01 and absolutely it's an environmental friendly kind of thing.
02:04 So if you could see, without blasting,
02:06 we are extracting the coal here.
02:08 So we have deployed a continuous miner
02:10 which doesn't require any blasting.
02:12 Just it rips off the coal
02:14 and it is collected through front end loaders
02:16 and it is loaded onto the track,
02:17 which is again hauled up to the surface.
02:19 From there, it is being delivered to the consumers.
02:22 As we have seen, like in the last couple of years,
02:24 or in fact, year or year before,
02:27 there was a lot of coal shortage
02:29 and power shortage that the country faced.
02:31 So if the requirement be,
02:33 and also as government is now saying
02:34 that all the mines to start scaling up
02:37 or ramping up their production.
02:39 So if the requirement be,
02:40 what is the kind of capacity
02:41 that we can take our mines to meet our demand?
02:45 You know, presently we have geared up all our equipments
02:48 to a tune of 15 million tons.
02:50 And in the years to come,
02:51 we'll be ramping up up to 20 million tons.
02:53 So should there be any further requirement of the country,
02:56 we'll be ramping up even beyond that.
02:58 So some enablement,
02:59 if it comes from the government of India,
03:01 in respect of environmental clearance and things like that.
03:04 So we'll be definitely going up to 30 million tons
03:07 and even beyond that.
03:08 - Right.
03:09 And say, if we have got,
03:11 come to know that there is a lot of various challenges also
03:14 as far as procurement is concerned.
03:16 Say, if we increase the capacity, that is fine.
03:18 But how do we really take care of the procurement
03:22 as far as the road is concerned,
03:23 railway siding, rakes and all is concerned.
03:26 Do we have that kind of capacity to cater to these
03:28 kind of production from here?
03:30 - Absolutely.
03:31 Actually, this mine is a captive kind of thing.
03:33 It is out of which 5 million ton is supposed to be sent to
03:36 our own power plant situated in Chichagudin, Tamil Nadu.
03:40 So for which we are supposed to establish a railway siding.
03:44 The work establishing the railways, the works are all on.
03:47 So we are expecting the railway siding to be there in place
03:50 by the end of next year.
03:51 So we will be evacuating to a tune of 8 million tons
03:54 to the railway siding,
03:55 which is going to come up in the year to come.
03:57 So besides that, we are setting up a power plant,
04:00 pitted power plant.
04:01 So that is three into 800 megawatt power plant
04:04 is going to set up in the first phase.
04:06 So followed by another one into 800 megawatt power plant.
04:09 So the remaining coal is expected to be consumed
04:11 by this pitted power plants.
04:13 So should there be any surplus coal available in the country
04:15 as demanded, I mean, surplus coal available in the pitted
04:19 as per the demand we are going to produce.
04:21 So this is going to be transported through trucks
04:24 in the road mode.
04:25 - Are we in position to cater to even our demand,
04:27 say as far as NTPL is concerned in Tuticorin?
04:31 So that whether we'll be able to meet
04:33 from the current railway siding that we are planning to work
04:36 on or how it is being done right now?
04:38 - So presently as the railway siding is yet to be established
04:42 the entire coal being produced in the mine
04:44 is being delivered through road mode only.
04:46 So we have got certain railway siding,
04:48 private railway siding available in the surroundings
04:51 through which the coal is being delivered to Paradip port.
04:55 From there it is being sent to Tuticorin by sea mode.
04:58 - And now that also government has allowed us
05:01 to have commercial mining, you know,
05:03 and up to 75% they have allowed us
05:05 to sell in the market also.
05:07 So given we have such huge potential or the reserve here,
05:11 would the company be looking at,
05:13 basically looking at commercial side of it?
05:16 - Yeah, absolutely.
05:17 So we have been granted permission to sell up to 75%
05:22 of the coal produced from this mine
05:23 after meeting the demand of the induced plants.
05:26 So yes, we'll be looking at it.
05:28 So there are so much consumers demanding coal from us.
05:33 So we will be floating e-action
05:34 and through which consumers are attracted.
05:36 And we are gearing up ourselves
05:38 to sell the coal in the open market.
05:40 - Okay, and what is the kind of investments
05:42 that we have planned for this project?
05:45 What is the total project cost?
05:46 How much we have already invested
05:47 and say to reach our capacity, full capacity,
05:51 how much we'll be spending?
05:52 - Actually, this is, if you could see,
05:54 this is an MDO operated mine.
05:57 So from the principal owner perspective,
06:00 the project cost is 2,402 crores.
06:03 So, so far we have spent around 700, 800 crores so far
06:07 in acquiring land and R&R compensation, all those things.
06:12 So besides that, we need to establish railway siding
06:15 for which we need to spend around 600 crores.
06:19 As far as MDO is concerned,
06:21 he's coming up with his own capital
06:24 and all this equipment deployed therein in the mine
06:27 is of course the capital incurred by the MDO.
06:31 - But in terms of value terms,
06:32 how much you have said you will be investing in this?
06:35 - So for the project cost is 2,402 crores.
06:37 - And how much we have already invested into this?
06:40 - So around 800 crores has been spent so far
06:43 and it is a continuous process.
06:45 So as the land acquisition goes on
06:47 and the R&R benefits are being dispersed,
06:49 the figure keeps increasing.
06:51 - Okay, you spoke about an MDO.
06:53 Who exactly is the MDO for this?
06:55 - This is Tompel,
06:56 this is Talabira Odisha Mining Private Limited.
06:59 It's a 100% subsidiary of Adani Enterprises Limited.
07:02 They are our mine developer and operator.
07:04 - Okay, and besides that, anything else
07:07 as far as the mine is concerned,
07:09 you want to tell about?
07:11 - Yeah, of course,
07:12 this is actually an excellent category of mine.
07:15 So we have got the stripping ratio is very, very favorable
07:18 and conducive for the project to be viable.
07:21 So because the stripping ratio is almost one is to one,
07:25 it is to be precise, it is one is to 1.09.
07:28 So we have got a huge reserve here
07:31 with less stripping ratio.
07:32 - For our audience,
07:33 you would like to explain what exactly stripping ratio means.
07:36 - Fantastic.
07:36 So stripping ratio is the ratio.
07:39 So how much volume of earth we remove
07:42 to extract one ton of coal.
07:45 So when I say one is to 1.09,
07:48 so we need to remove 1.09 cubic meter of volume of earth
07:52 to extract one ton of coal.
07:54 So that's how this is highly favorable
07:57 in terms of economics of the mines.
07:59 So the grade of the coal is also G12,
08:01 average grade of this coal is G12.
08:04 This mine has got a potential of rising to any amount
08:08 as I was telling you.
08:10 So as far as safety and quality aspects are concerned,
08:14 so this mine has been rated five star rating,
08:18 which is being awarded to us by Ministry of Coal.
08:21 Last year we could secure the five star rating
08:23 and we hope that we would be continuing the trend
08:26 in the years to come also.
08:28 So as far as the operation is concerned,
08:31 this is the first of its kind in the country
08:35 being operated through MDO model.
08:37 So regarding the rehabilitation,
08:40 other things are concerned,
08:41 we have formulated one of the best packages,
08:43 R&R packages in the country.
08:44 And certainly all our project affected persons,
08:49 project displaced families are going to get benefited
08:51 to the maximum extent possible.
08:53 And we are of course committed to serve the society
08:56 and sustain the environment in the years to come.
08:59 - Thank you very much for talking to us Mr. Jayakumar.
09:01 It was pleasure talking to you.
09:03 - Thank you. - Thank you.
09:04 - Same here, thank you.
09:05 - For more news, keep watching BQ Prime.
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