Gujarat to provide lignite to textile units

“The reserve found at Umarsar mines in Kutch has very good quality lignite,” said Saurabh Patel, minister for energy and petrochemicals, on Wednesday. “

It is located near the Panandhro group of mines. Now, when all the clearances from MoEF have been received, we will proceed with production of lignite from the new mines in April,” the minister said, adding, “Our initial target is to produce 10 lakh tonnes (one million tonnes) every year.” However he refused to give an estimate of the lignite reserve.

According to sources in Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation (GMDC), a state government undertaking, the Umarsar mines have an estimated reserve of 21 million tonnes.

These mines are spread across more than 5,400 acres of land. GMDC’s production capacity is one million tonnes of lignite per annum.

Interestingly lignite from the Umarsar mines will be supplied to SSIs to meet their fuel needs.

“We have made provision in the new textile policy that the government will help SSIs to reduce their dependability on imported lignite for fuel and energy needs. We will supply lignite to the groups of SSIs and they will utilise it for energy generation at their captive power plants,” the minister explained.

The exploration process had been in progress for three years before the reserve was discovered, he added.