All about COAL LOGISTICS AND TRANSPORTATION

1. Black DiamondLogistic Outlook –KORBA
 Korba Coalfield is located between latitudes 220 15’ N and 220 30’ N and
longitudes 820 15’ E and 82055 ’ E.
 Korba Coalfield covers an area of about 530 square kilometres (200 sq mi).
 According to Geological Survey of India, total reserves (including proved,
indicated and inferred reserves) of non-coking coal (as on 1.1.2004) in Korba
Coalfield was 10,074.77 million tonnes, out of which 7,732.87 was up to a
depth of 300 m and 2,341.90 million tonnes was at a depth of 300–600 m.
 Coal mined at Korba coalfield generally has the following characteristics –
moisture: 4.5–7.4 per cent, volatile matter: 27.9–39.2 per cent, fixed carbon:
34.1–47.7 per cent, ash content: 11.2–31.6 per cent.
 Korba Coalfield accounts for a major portion of coal mined by South Eastern
Coalfields Limited. The 2010 production of SECL was 101.15 tonnes, out of
which 73.35 tonnes came from Korba Coalfield.
 Sub-areas of Korba Coalfield are:
 Korba.
 Surakachhar.
 Rajgamar.
 Manikpur.
 Dhelwadih.
 Kushumunda
 Gevra.
 The major working coalmines are:
 Surakachhar
 Banki
 Balgi
 Rajgamar
 Pavan
 Manikpur
 Dhewadih
 Singhali
 Bagdeva
 Kusumunda

2.  Laxman
 Gevra
 Dipka.
Coal Washeries
 There is a pronounced degree of contamination in the coal from open
cast mines. Such coal often has ash content averaging 40 per cent.
 Moreover, with multiple sources of supply, the quality is inconsistent.
 Even 6–8 per cent reduction in ash improves coal quality significantly.
 Coal preparation, or washing as it is commonly referred to, is both
economical and environmentally beneficial.
 Coal washeries are being established in Korba Coalfields.
 ACB (India) had set up a washery at Dipka in 1999, gradually
upgrading capacity from 1 million tonnes per annum to 12 million
tonnes per annum.
 The KJSL Coal Washery at Dhatura in Pali tehsil has an annual
capacity of 2 million tonnes.
POWER PLANTS
 There are several coal-based thermal power stations in the area
consuming coal from Korba Coalfield.
 Korba Super Thermal Power Plant of NTPC has installed
capacity of 2,600 MW. It gets coal from Gevra and Kusmunda
mines.
 Chhattisgarh State Power Generation Company Limited has
three power stations in the area:
 Korba East Thermal Power Station has installed capacity of 440
MW,
 Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Thermal Power Station (Korba
East) 500 MW.
 Hasdeo Thermal Power Station (Korba West) 840 MW.
 The captive power plant of Balco (BCPP) has an installed
capacity of 270 MW.
 It is coming up with a 1,200 MW power expansion project.

3. SECL
 South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL) is the largest coal producing
company of India.
 It's a Mini Ratna Company. It is one of the eight fully owned subsidiaries
of Coal India Limited.
 The company has its head office at Bilaspur and mines spread
over Chhattisgarh & Madhya Pradesh.
 It has total 92 Mines. Total Underground Mines are 70 and total Opencast
mines are 21.
 There is 1 mixed mine. It is a schedule 'B' Mini Ratna CPSE in coal & lignite
under the administrative control of Ministry of Coal.
 The Company came into existence in 1985, when Government of India,
decided to bifurcate a part of coal mines held by Western Coalfields
Limited into new company called South Eastern Coalfields Limited, along
with Central Coalfields Limited, which was bifurcated into Northern Coalfields
Limited, for administrative purpose.
GEVRA MINES:India’s Largest opencast mine
 Gevra mine is an open cast mine complex at the town of Gevra that has been
described as the largest open cast mine in India and Asia, as well as the
world's second-largest.
 As of 2011 it has a capacity of 35 million tonnes per annum. It was opened in
1981. During 1999–2000, it produced over 18 million tonnes of coal and
removed 12 million m 3 of overburden.In 2000, Gevra mine had a plan to
expand from 12 million tonnes pe annum to 25 million tonnes per annum.
Actual production was raised from 18 million tonnes to 26 million tonnes
annually in 3½ years. SECL reported that on 18 March 2007.
 Gevra Open Cast Mine produced 100,000 tonnes of coal, the highest quantity
of coal ever produced by any mine or coalfield in India on a single day.
Expansion of capacity of Gevra mine from 35 million tonnes annually to 43.75
million tonnes annually has been awaiting environmental clearance since
2009.

4. Kusmunda Mines
.
 Kusmumda coal mine is operated by the South Eastern Coalfields Limited
(SECL)—country’s largest coal producing company and the flagship entity of
the Coal India Limited.
 The mine is located in Korba district of Chhattisgarh and has been
producing 18.75 million tonnes of coal per annum.
 Quality of coal is not very high.
 In the recent days maximum auction is done from kusmunda mines.
 They have worked hard on mining techniques to improve the coal quality.
 Kusmunda project is identified as one of the projects in the Emergency Coal
Production Plan (ECPP) of CIL with a targeted capacity of 50 MTPA by
mining about 3,510 hectares of area.
 In favourable techno-economical circumstances, the project might produce
1.25 times of the normative capacity and might attain production level of
62.50 MTPA
DIPIKA MINES
 Dipka Open Cast Mine has an annual capacity of 25 million tonnes.
 They have the best quality of coal.
 Most of the NTPC gets coal from Dipika mines.
 They have 2 stock points for movement of coal through roads.

5. INDIA:TOP TEN POWER PLANTS
1. Mundra (Adani) Thermal Power
Mundra ranked first till date, in terms of power generation plants which are
operational in India.
The 4,620MW Mundra Thermal Power Station located in the Kutch district of Gujarat is
currently the largest operating thermal power plant in India. It is a coal-fired power plant
owned and operated by Adani Power.
The power plant consists of nine generating units (four 330MW units and five 660MW units).
The first 330MW unit was commissioned in May 2009 and the last 660MW unit of the plant
commissioned in March 2012. The coal used for the power plant is mainly imported from
Indonesia. The plant's water source is the sea water from the Gulf of Kutch.
The boilers and generators for the first four units were supplied by Babcock & Wilcox and
Beijing Beizhong respectively. SEPCO III, China was the EPC contractor for the last five
660MW units, which feature super critical technology.
The boilers were supplied by Harbin Boiler and the turbine and generators were supplied by
Dongfang Machinery.

6. 2. Vindhyachal Thermal Power Station, Madhya Pradesh
Vindhyachal Thermal Power Station in the Singrauli district of Madhya Pradesh, with an
installed capacity of 4260MW, ranks as the second biggest thermal power plant in India. It is
a coal-based power plant owned and operated by NTPC.
The power plant comprises of 12 generating units (six 210MW units and six 500 MW units).
Construction of the plant began in 1982. The first unit was commissioned in 1987 and the last
500MW was commissioned recently in April 2013.
The plant uses coal from the NCL-operated Nigahi mine and water from the discharge canal
of Singrauli Super Thermal Power Station. The turbine manufacturers for the Vindhyachal
Thermal Power Station include Russian companies LMZ, Electrosila and the Indian BHEL.
The 500MW units were supplied by BHEL.

7. The 4,000MW Mundra Ultra Mega Power Plant (UMPP), also located in the Kutch district of
Gujarat, ranks as the third largest thermal power plant in India. It is a coal-fired power plant
owned and operated by Coastal Gujarat Power Limited (CGPL), a subsidiary of Tata Power.
The thermal power plant consists of five generating units, each of 800MW capacity.
Construction of the plant began in March 2009.
The first unit of the Mundra UMPP was commissioned in March 2012 and the last unit was
commissioned in March 2009. The plant uses 12 billion tonnes of imported coal per annum.
The plant features super-critical boiler technology. Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction
was the EPC contractor for this project. The five boilers for the plant were also supplied by
Doosan. Toshiba supplied the steam turbine generators

8. 4. Talcher Super Thermal Power Station, Odisha
Talcher Super Thermal Power Station or NTPC Talcher Kaniha, located in the Angul district
of Odisha, is a 3,000MW coal-fired power plant owned and operated by NTPC. The power
station currently ranks as the fourth largest operational thermal power plant in India.
NTPC Talcher Kaniha plant consists of six 500MW units. The first unit of the plant was
commissioned in February 1995 and the last unit began operations in February 2005. Turbine
manufacturers for the plant were ABB and BHEL.
The coal used by Talcher Super Thermal Power plant is sourced from the Lingraj Block of
Talcher Coal Field. The plant uses water Samal Barrage Reservoir on Brahmani River in
Odisha.

9. 5. Sipat Thermal Power Plant, Chhattisgarh
The 2980MW Sipat Super Thermal Power Plant located at Sipat in the Bilaspur district of
Chhattisgarh, ranks as the fifth largest thermal power station in India. It is a coal-based power
plant owned and operated by NTPC.
The power plant built in two stages is installed with six generating units (three 660MW
super-crtical units and three 500MW units). The first unit of the plant commenced
commercial operations in August 2008, while the last unit was commissioned in June 2012.
The power plant, built with an estimated cost of more than $2bn, was renamed as Rajiv
Gandhi Super Thermal Power Station in September 2013. Coal for the Sipat plant is sourced
from Dipika Mines of South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL). The plant uses water from
the Right Bank Canal (RBC) originating from the Hasdeo Barrage.

10. 6. NTPC Dadri, Uttar Pradesh
NTPC Dadri or National Capital Power Station (NCPS) owned and operated by NTPC is
located in the Gautam Budh Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh, about 48km from the Indian
capital New Delhi. The power station, with an installed capacity of 2637MW (1820MW- coal
based and 817MW gas based), ranks as the sixth largest thermal plant in India.
The power station consists of six coal-fired units (four 210MW units and two 490MW units)
and six gas-based generating units (four 130.19MW gas turbines and two 154.51MW steam
turbines). The first coal-fired unit was commissioned in October 1991 and the last unit was
commissioned in July 2010. The gas-based generating units were commissioned between
1992 and 1997.
The coal for NTPC Dadri is sourced from Piparwar Mines, Jharkhand. The gas is sourced
from GAIL Hazira-Bijapur-Jagdishpur (HBJ) Pipeline. The water source for the thermal
power station is the Upper Ganga Canal.

11. 7. NTPC Ramagundam, Andhra Pradesh
NTPC's Ramagundam thermal power plant in the Karimnagar district of Andhra Pradesh
ranks as the seventh largest thermal power plant in India and the largest in south India. The
coal-fired power plant has an installed capacity of 2600MW.
The power plant built in three phases consists of seven generating units (three 200MW units
and four 500MW units. The first unit of the plant started operations in November 1983 and
the last 500MW unit was commissioned in August 2004. The boilers and turbines of the plant
were supplied by BHEL.
The power plant uses coal from South Godavari Coal Fields of Singrani Collieries and Korba
Coal Fields of SECL. The sources of water for the plant are Sri Ram Sagar Dam on Godavari
River and D-83 Canal from Pochampad Reservoir. The power generated at the plant is
uniformly distributed among Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and
Maharashtra.

12. 8. Korba Super Thermal Power Plant, Chattisgarh
Korba Super Thermal Power Plant located in the Korba district of Chhattisgarh, with
2600MW of installed capacity, also ranks as the seventh largest thermal power plant in India.
It is a coal-fired power plant owned and operated by NTPC.
The power plant built in three phases comprises of seven generating units (three 200MW
units and four 500MW units). The first unit of the Korba thermal power plant was
commissioned in March 1983. The last 500MW unit at the plant was commissioned in
December 2010.
The power plant uses coal from Kusmundha and Gevra mines in the Korba Coalfield. The
water source of the plant is Hasdeo River, a tributary of Mahanadi River.

13. 9. Rihand Thermal Power Station, Uttar Pradesh
Rihand Thermal Power Station at Rihandnagar in the Sonebhadra district of Uttar Pradesh
ranks as the ninth largest thermal power plant in India. The coal-based power plant with an
installed capacity of 2,500MW is owned and operated by NTPC.
Rihand Thermal Power Plant consists of five generating units of 500MW capacity each. The
first unit was commissioned in March 1988. The fifth unit of the plant was commissioned in
May 2012.
Coal for the Rihand Thermal Power Station is sourced from Amlori, Amloric expansion and
the Dudhichua Mines in Madhya Pradesh. The plant uses water from the Rihand Reservoir
built on Son River.

14. 10. Vedanta Jharsuguda Thermal Power Plant, Odisha
Jharsuguda Thermal Power Plant, in the Jharsuguda district of Odisha, is currently the tenth
largest thermal power plant operating in India. It is a 2400MW coal-fired power plant owned
and operated by Sterlite Energy, a 100% subsidiary of Vedanta Resources.
The power plant is installed with four 600MW units. The first generating unit was
commissioned in August 2010. The fourth unit was commissioned in March 2013. The coal
used by the plant is sourced from the IB Valley coal field in the Jharsuguda district.
The Jharsuguda Thermal Power Plant was built with an estimated investment of $1.3bn. The
SEPCO III Electric Power Construction Company of China was the EPC contractor for this
thermal power project.

15. The Know-How of coal Transportation
Mr Hardev and Mr Abhijat visited three coal mines Gevra, Dipika and Kusmunda and
tried to figure out opportunity for Trux App.
 SECL does the mining for all the four mines and then a third party (GTP)
takes the coal from mining point and deliver it to stock.
 GTP is owned by Haryana based businessman and owns around 500 tippers
of 25 tonne each.
 Each tipper makes between 12 to 18 trips and drivers are paid for
overtime.Each driver is paid Rs 60 for an additional hour after 8 hours of
working.Driver income ranges between 30k & 45k.
 Stock is a point from where coal is loaded in trucks and Railways and
delivered to the Thermal Power and other destinations.

16.  Every mines have multiple stock points.Stock points are different for RAKE
movement and ROAD movement.
 Two types of coal are obtained from coal mines i,e 100 mm and 250
mm.From mines 250 mm are loaded in 25 tonne tippers and supplied to
stocks.
 A 100 mm stock consists of a crusher to crush the 250 mm into 100 mm.
 Loader plays a crucial role as it decides the amount of truck filled per day.
 Most of the big transporter owns multiple loader to transport 100000 tonne in
a month.
 All the mines operates 24*7.
 SECL also provides their loader but they lacks efficiency.So a loader is
needed from third party to operate at optimum efficiency.
 A Trux App representative need to present at loading point to get good quality
of coal else they a mixture of coal and stone which reduces the gross calorific
value of coal.
 Rs 10 to Rs 12 will be additional cost if you hire a third party loader.
 Other option is to take the DO and give it to five to ten transporter on a fixed
price and all the responsibilities lies with them including loading cost to
delivery cost.In this case margin will get reduced for the company.
 As per the survey and communication with transporter maximum lifting
capacity of even big transporter lies between 5k & 10k.
 Time plays a significant role and margin solely depends on the duration
granted by DB Power to transport the coal.
 If we get 45 days DO for movement of 1 lakh tonne then cost will increase as
more number of tippers and loader will be needed.
 If we get 90 days DO then we can easy make between Rs 50 & Rs 100 per
tonne.
 If a transporter who owns tipper gets a DO of Kusmunda mines say at Rs 519
then initially they will open market rate at Rs 420 and gradually increase it to
Rs 510 as the time progresses.
 There are only two conditions in which the rate increases.
 If there are multiple online auction for a particular mines and secondly if few
days are left for DO to collapse.
 Analytic plays a crucial role in transportation of coal as at stock the loader
simply load the coal and KAANTA is done at kaanta point so a 25 tonne
capacity tipper may have 20 tonne or 28 tonne so it should be calculated
everyday the amount of coal transferred and at any cost a minimum of 7-9
percent additional vehicle should be kept as buffer.
 Mostly the coal from the mines contains moisture up to 20 percent and so
there is a variation in weight once it becomes dry and delivered to DB Power.
 DB Power also gives a margin in weight for this phenomenon.

17.  There is no Hooliganism and local union issue in chattisgarh belt.
 Currently mostly the auction is done for Kusmunda mines almost evry month
and the expected rate is Rs 490 including loader cost.DB Power takes 250
mm coal from this mine.
 A biggest threat at Kusmunda mine is blasting which is very strong and makes
feel like earthquake of 7 magnitude and has maximum casualties as
compared to other mines.
 Mostly blasting happens in Lunch time and mine is made free of all the tippers
and loaders.
 Coal theft is the major concern for DB Power as most of these vehicles load
the coal and goes to washeries and exchange low quality coal from there so a
trux representative will be needed to take care of the theft.
 We travelled from Raigarh to Korba in Taxi to understand the roadmap and
points of theft.Unfortunately there is a stretch of 15 km where 3g doesn’t work
and airtel service provider is complete failure in that region.
 There is a huge opportunity in Raigarh and near by area as all the power
plants and other coal related industries takes coal from these mines.Mostly
small factory provides a DO of 5k to 30 k at max.
 Most of the transporters are from Gujarat, UP & Bihar origin and they own a
huge number of fleet.
 In rainy season the production of coal decreases and the freight of
transportation also decreases.
 Al the four mines have different group of transporters and sourcing needs to
be done for these mines separately.
 DO of DB Power ranges from 8k tonne to 200000 tonne.
 Getting an opportunity to serve DB Power for an year can lead to margin upto
8 % and even more if we include rainy season.
 For 45 days DO we can earn a minimum of Rs 9 /tonne and maximum of Rs
29 /tonne.
 Points where we can increase the margins are at loader points by hiring
private loaders and making three trips in two days.
 All these mines lies between a range of 115-130 km .
 Their will be rise in price due to increase of 50 km in the path as old path will
no longer be used.
 Till now all the DO are working on old path rate and new rate will start only
after auction in March.

18. SOURCING COST PER MINES
S.No Mines Sourcing
Cost(Rs/Tonne)
DBPower
Auction(Rs/Tonne)
1 Gevra 490-510 570
2 Deepika 480-500
3 Manikpur 400-430 450-470
4 Kusmunda 470-510 519
Kindly let me know if you need any other information.
Thanks
Abhijat