The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : SCCL strategy pays off

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 31, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

SCCL strategy pays off

N. Rahul

HYDERABAD: A new strategy of the Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) management to spread out production uniformly throughout the year is giving good results. All these years, the production of coal at the 42 underground and 13 open-cast mines of SCCL in four districts was heavily concentrated in the period October (post-rains) to February (pre-summer).

In fact, the seasonal conditions played such a crucial role in the performance of the company that the five months came to be known as ‘production months’. SCCL Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) S. Narsing Rao told The Hindu that the situation was reviewed in December last year and it was decided to balance production over four quarters of the year.

As a result, the production levels from April to December this year were nearly uniform. The same level of production was targeted in the fourth quarter of the current fiscal. Mr. Rao said it was found that uniformity in production had a lot of bearing on the profitability of the company. In the previous years, the huge build up of stocks at the pit-heads in the third and fourth quarters due to stepped up production did not give the company proportionate returns though its fixed costs remained unchanged.

The stocks could not be lifted immediately on account of limited availability of trucks and rail rakes.

The CMD added that the haulage of coal straightaway after production eliminated the re-handling charges. If the coal was to be dumped on ground and shifted later on, the re-handling charges worked out to Rs. 17 a tonne, which could well be avoided by staggering production to maintain uniformity irrespective of seasons.

Denied

He denied that flooding of open-cast mines due to rains affected production. The danger of dumpers skidding off the incline in open-cast projects delayed operations, he explained. Referring to new technology initiatives by SCCL, Mr. Rao said new generation long-wall systems, which produce up to five million tonnes annually in underground mines, would be introduced at Shantikhani, Adriyala and Jallaram projects, which are coming up. Unlike in countries like Australia, where the technology is deployed for optimum production, the SCCL would prefer its application to extract coal in the range of 2 to 2.5 million tonnes per annum.

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