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ITANAGAR: The Arunachal Pradesh government has formally signed a 30-year mining lease agreement with Guwahati-based M/s Coal Pulz Pvt Ltd for the Namchik-Namphuk coal mines at Kharsang in Changlang district.
The deal, inked in Itanagar on Thursday by Coal Pulz Pvt Ltd director Naveen Singhal and state Geology & Mining secretary A K Singh, paves the way for resumption of coal production after more than a decade of suspension.
State Geology and Mining Minister Wangki Lowang , who witnessed the ceremony, said mining operations would begin soon with an estimated production of 2 lakh tonnes annually under the Approved Mine Plan. The minister said the project would not only generate royalty for the state exchequer but also create jobs for unemployed youth, boost local economic sustainability, and help meet the growing demand for energy. He noted that legal mining would significantly curb illegal coal extraction in the region.
Lowang highlighted that Namchik-Namphuk was part of the largest tranche of commercial coal mine auctions in November 2022, where 29 mines, including this one, were put up for bidding.
He added that necessary clearances have already been obtained from the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change and the state environment authorities.
The mining lease area falls within the Namchik Reserve Forest, and the environment clearance has been transferred to the open cast coal mine with a rated capacity of 0.20 million tonnes per annum.
The Namchik-Namphuk coalfields, located in the far eastern corner of Arunachal Pradesh, hold reserves of nearly 15 million tonnes of coal in an area of ecological and tribal importance. The block covers 133.65 hectares, of which 39.02 hectares were earlier mined by the Arunachal Pradesh Mineral Development & Trading Corporation Ltd (APMDTCL). Between 2007 and 2012, the corporation extracted around 10 lakh metric tonnes of coal before operations were halted.
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