(TNIE)
The government is planning to hand over control of iron ore and coking coal mining to the steel ministry, as mining of coking coal is getting expensive and more time consuming, two officials familiar with the development said.
“At present, coking coal production is very expensive, almost equal to the import of coking coal. So, it is not financially viable for coal companies. Steel majors like SAIL are already doing it for themselves, so it makes sense to shift it to the steel ministry,” said a coal ministry official. “It will also help steel ministry to have integrated plan including coking coal and iron ore, which will speed up approval of mining licenses,” the official added.
