New Delhi: Coal India subsidiary WCL (Western Coalfields Limited) is now set to start the sale of segregated sand from OB (overburden) dumps to private consumers as part of diversification efforts. An official spokesperson for the company told PSU Watch that the company was until now selling the OB sand to public sector companies only and this is the first time that WCL will undertake the commercial sale of sand to private players.
Lauding the initiative taken by the Coal India subsidiary, Minister for Coal Pralhad Joshi said on Saturday, "Best wishes to @TeamWCL on your plan to sell sand segregated from overburden dumps. A good move to make use of OB, earn revenue and boost construction activities."
The first of these commercial auctions is set to take place on June 5. Announcing the beginning of the sale, WCL said in a tweet on Saturday, "WCL kick-starts commercial sale of segregated Sand from OB dumps to private consumers under #Mission100Days to boost construction activities post #Lockdown4.0 Spot e-auction of 50,000 M3 sand from Bhanegaon & Gondegaon Plant scheduled on 05.06.2020."
Overburden (OB) is the soil excavated during Open cast mining. OB is used for backfilling material after coal excavation. Post excavation of OB the volume of OB swells up to 20 percent and this excess quantity is utilised for segregating sand. Sand being a minor mineral comes under the jurisdiction of the state government.
The commercial sale of OB sand to private players is part of WCL's diversification efforts to go beyond coal mining, the spokesperson said.
WCL had earlier signed an MoU in July 2019 with MOIL Limited for the sale of OB sand. The first consignment of sand was sent off from the Gondagaon project in Nagpur region in presence of WCL's Chairman and Managing Director Rajiv Ranjan Mishra and senior officials. WCL secured permission from the government of Maharashtra for commercial selling of segregated sand to both private and government consumers at Rs 797.06 per M3 with and without e-auction.