CIL reserves falling, says Greenpeace

State-owned Coal India has only 18.2 billion tonne extractable coal reserves which could get over in 17 years or so, Greenpeace warned on Monday.

This is 16% 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, the environment-focused NGO 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 had 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. And  since 90% of India’s coal inventory is non-coking coal, its extractable non-coking coal reserves should be 15.4 billion tonne.