Coal India overestimating reserves, says Greenpeace
24 Sep 2013
State-owned Coal India Ltd has only 18.2 billion tonne of extractable coal reserves, which is 16 per cent less than the 21.7 billion tonne the company claims to have on its website and which it had stated at the time of listing in 2010, Greenpeace claimed on Monday.
These reserves could get over in 17 years or so, the environmental organisation said in a report.
According to Greenpeace, the stated 21.7 billion tonne extractable reserve was arrived at using the old formula of India Standard Procedure System.
However, in 2000 the government decided to adopt the internationally accepted United Nations Framework Classifications (UNFC) for calculating extractable coal reserves.
In 2011, Coal India's research subsidiary, Central Mine Planning and Design Institute Ltd (CMPDIL), completed assessment of extractable reserves using the UNFC formula, which came to 18.2 billion tonne.
But while this information is available on the CMPDIL website, it was not made available readily to the public, Greenpeace alleged.
The NGO has filed a formal complaint with the Securities and Exchange Board of India against CIL for concealing material evidence on the scale of its coal reserves, in contravention of the terms of the listing agreement under the Indian Securities Contracts Regulations Act, 1956.
According to the report, considering CIL produced 1.05 billion tonne between April 2011 and August 2013, its total extractable reserve should be around 17.15 billion tonne today. Since 90 per cent of India's coal inventory is non-coking coal, its extractable non-coking coal reserves should be 15.4 billion tonne.
