SCCL to look for opportunities overseas for mining critical minerals

Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) has decided to look for critical mineral mining opportunities overseas. SCCL, which is jointly owned by the Telangana government and Government of India, has been asked to diversify its portfolio while it continues to remain focused on domestic coal production.

Following the orders of the Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka , who holds the energy porfolio too, SCCL is exploring options to extend to critical minerals like lithium mining.

The Deputy Chief Minister at an event earlier this month had said “Critical minerals are not just industrial raw materials, they are the foundation of a green economy.”

Last November, SCCL had inked an agreement with Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad (IITH) to collaborate in research and development in new areas of mining and mining technologies. On Saturday, a group of experts from IITH and the senior team of SCCL met to work out a strategy.

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The IITH team was asked to look into the possibilities of commercial use of these minerals as research has shown that the fly ash coming out of the Singareni Thermal Power Plant also contains rare minerals. Soon, a special workshop will be organised under the guidance of IITH experts to create awareness among Singareni officials on critical minerals.

“SCCL essentially will remain a coal miner but the expansion of portfolio is in keeping with the changing scenario in the energy space,” a senior official told businessline.

SCCL coal reserves stretch across 350 km of the Pranahita – Godavari Valley of Telangana with a proven geological reserve aggregating to 8791 million tonne. SCCL has produced 70.02 mt of coal in 2023-24. It is time for SCCL to use its strengths which is in modern coal mining technologies in opencast and underground mines, usage of IT, equipment maintenance, coal handling and modern management practices including implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) project.

SCCL has charted out an aggressive growth strategy by leveraging its core competency in coal mining operations by extending its business operations into consultancy related to coal mining and diversification. The MoU with IITH is for enhancing academic and intellectual interaction between the two entities to promote mutual intellectual growth and jointly seek indigenous technological solutions.