Central Coalfields Limited to produce manufactured sand at Kathara by next yr

Ranchi: Coal India Limited’s (CIL) Jharkhand-based subsidiary, the Central Coalfields Limited (CCL), is looking to convert its overburden from coal mines into manufactured sand and provide a low-cost alternative to natural sand that is used in the construction sector.The PSU is the latest in CIL subsidiaries which is taking up the exercise in a bid to convert its overburden into a source of revenue generation and free its land for other purposes. The CCL, which is headquartered in Ranchi, has zeroed in on its Kathara coal project in Bokaro district for the project.“The tender document has been floated and the bidding process is underw ay. The third party developer will be finalised soon after due technical processes,” Anupam Rana, the general manager (public relations) of CCL, told TOI on Sunday.In mining parlance, overburden is the soil layer and rock that needs to be removed to access the mineral which is being mined. CCL, like other sister concerns of the CIL, removes the overburden from its mining area and dumps it elsewhere. The mounds of overburden are then levelled with heavy earth movers and used for plantation.In January, the Union coal ministry announced its plans to take up manufactured sand projects in a big way. The project, the ministry said, has been envisaged by the CIL in mining areas where overburden material comprises 60% sandstone.At present, the CIL has three plants for manufactured sand nationwide. Together, these plants can produce up to 4,250 cubic meters of sand each day. That apart, there are plans to set up four sand plants across its subsidiaries which collectively will have a production capacity of 5,500 cubic meters per day. “The Kathara OB to sand plant, which will produce 500 cubic meters of sand per day, is expected to be commissioned by December. Likewise, another plant, proposed at Barora coal mine in Dhanbad (under the Bharat Coking Coal Limited), is expected to be commissioned by July 2024,” a statement by the ministry on January 27 claimed. However, the BCCL had floated a tender last month but found no takers for the project.Coal experts said manufactured sand can be priced somewhere around Rs 70 per tonne and would reduce dependency on mined natural sand.