Coal India (CIL) has placed Rs 2,900 crore order for purchase of 96 dumpers of 240 tonne capacity on Belarus-based mining equipment manufacturer Belaz.
The amount for the purchase of the dumpers will be met out of the company’s own finances. Dumpers are primarily used in opencast mines and aid in the transport of bulk materials like over burden which is an important performance criterion.
CIL’s board has given its nod to close the deal and letter of award (LoA) has been issued.
The purchase package includes the cost of the dumpers and spares for eight years including one year warranty period. Belaz bagged the contract through a global tender process.
The first batch of six dumpers will start rolling in within eight months of signing of the contract. Thereafter, on CIL’s green signal of their performance the remaining quantity would be delivered in batches of four every month.
These 96 dumpers will be deployed in South Eastern Coalfields (SECL) taking the total tally of the subsidiary’s 240 tonne dumpers to 162, with 66 previously in operation.
Of the 96 dumpers, 84 will be put into operation in the Gevra project and the remaining 12 in Kusmunda. Both are mega opencast projects of SECL.
CIL earlier procured 77 dumpers of 150 tonne capacity from Belaz for Gevra project. CIL has also ordered 190 tonne capacity dumpers numbering 102 from Caterpillar.
While NCL projects account for 84 of these 102, the rest 18 are deployed in Rajmahal project of Eastern Coalfields.
SECL is the largest coal producing subsidiary of CIL which contributed to 25 percent of CIL’s total coal output of 602 million tonne in 2019-20. Close to 61 percent of SECL’s total coal production is derived through opencast mines.
SECL also contributed to 47 percent of CIL’s total underground production during 2019-20.
