Coal India (CIL) is planning to expand the capacity of Kusmunda mine in Korba district of Chhattisgarh by investing Rs 7,600 crore over the next five years.

The company proposes to increase the production capacity of the mine to about 50 million tpa from the existing 15 million tpa. The proposed expansion plan includes ramping up railway capacity for evacuating this coal. The investment figure is included in the project cost. The production capacity of 50 million tonne will be achieved through existing techniques of shove-dumper mix and in-pit conveyors, which will transport the coal from the mine to the stockyard.

Apart from this, CIL has 148 projects at various stages of implementation, of which 90 have already received forest and environment clearance, and 134 are expected to contribute 334 million tonne by 2017. It has also identified 126 new projects with a targeted capacity of 438 million tpa in the Twelfth Five Year Plan period. Project reports of 28 of these have already been prepared, with 60 projects expected to contribute 88 million tonne by 2017.