Coal India’s expansion plans face delays

摘要

The Indian government has delayed environmental clearances for mine expansions planned by state-controlled Coal India (CIL), hitting the company’s plans to roughly double output to 900mn t/yr in five years. The environment ministry has ruled out issuing blanket approvals to the firm to increase capacity, on the grounds its plans could reduce mine life and hurt local communities. It has instead told CIL to hold public hearings that could take as long as two years to complete.