Chhattisgarh's Gevra Coal Mine Set To Become The Largest Coal Mine In Asia With Environmental Clearance For 70 MTPA Production

Gevra Mega project in Chhattisgarh is set to become the largest coal mine in Asia. The mine has been granted environmental clearance to expand production capacity to 70 million tonne per annum from the current 52.5 million tonne.

Gevra is an existing mega opencast mine (OCM) in Korba coalfields and is flanked by another two mega opencast mines — Kusmunda OCM in East and Dipka OCM in West.

The mine is under the administrative control of the South Eastern Coalfields (SECL), one of the largest coal-producing subsidiaries of Coal India Limited.

The Ministry of Coal, through coordinated efforts with the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change, has swiftly obtained the environmental clearance of 70 million tonne for Gevra. This achievement underscores the significance of Gevra as a key project for SECL in fulfilling the nation's energy requirements.

It is to be noted that Gevra became the largest coal mine in the country last year with annual production for FY 22-23 reaching 52.5 million tonne and has been contributing towards energy security of the country for more than 40 years.

The feat is quite remarkable, considering the fact that no Indian mine, until now, has produced more than 50 million tonne of coal in a year.

The mine has a strike length of around 10 km and a breadth of 4 km. It also has first-mile connectivity equipped with a conveyer belt, silos and rapid loading system for swift and eco-friendly coal evacuation.