State-run coal behemoth Coal India, which has embarked on diversification into the non-coal sector, is interested in participating in more auctions to secure its first lithium block.

“Now we have taken one mine in graphite. For lithium, we participated (in auction), but we did not get it. So, we are interested,” Coal India Chairman-cum-Managing Director PM Prasad said on Sunday.

CIL has recently secured a graphite block in Madhya Pradesh. It was the miner’s first-ever non-coal mineral mining venture. Graphite has its utility as anode material in lithium-ion battery manufacturing due to its relatively low cost and energy density.

“We have owned the graphite block in the auction. So, we will be developing it. We will go for exploration,” Prasad told reporters on the sidelines of the “Mines Safety Award 2024” event held here.

Interestingly, in its annual report for FY24, released on Saturday, Coal India said that facing the challenges of a rapidly evolving global energy landscape, it is diversifying into the emerging battery materials sectors—lithium, nickel, cobalt, and graphite. Leveraging its mining expertise, operational footprint, and financial resources, the company aims to capitalize on these opportunities and establish itself in the battery materials value chain, offering new revenue streams and enhancing long-term resilience and competitiveness.

“Deep understanding of the Indian energy and industrial landscape aids in expanding into markets for lithium-ion batteries, electric vehicles, and renewable energy technologies,” CIL said in the annual report.

Notably, the Directorate General of Mines Safety (DGMS) has started discussions with captive and commercial coal block operators on mine safety.

“We are seeing more captive and commercial mines coming into production every year. So we are having conversations and consultations with the mine operators so that they understand the rules and regulations that have to be followed for mine safety,” Prabhat Kumar, Director General, DGMS, said at the Mines Safety Award 2024 event.

Coal India, in its annual report, said it is advancing as many as 119 coal projects with a sanctioned capacity of 896 million tonnes per year (MTY) and a sanctioned capital of around ₹1.33-lakh crore. “These projects are at various stages of implementation, as part of our proactive approach to increasing our production capacity and meeting future coal demands,” the company said, adding it is ramping up capital investments to achieve 1 billion tonnes of coal production by FY26.

Coal India marginally fell short of its annual production target for the last fiscal, producing 773.6 million tonnes of coal against the target of 780 million tonnes. The coal major has set its production target at 838 million tonnes for this fiscal.

Coal India marginally fell short of its annual production target for the last fiscal, producing 773.6 million tonnes of coal against the target of 780 million tonnes. The coal major has set its production target at 838 million tonnes for this fiscal.

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