Singareni plans to double explosive material production

While the capacity of Ramagundam plant will be enhanced to 60,000 tonnes from 30,000, Manuguru plant's capacity will also be increased to 40,000 tonnes from 20,000 tonnes.

Peddapalli: Singareni Collieries Company (SCCL) has decided to enhance the production of explosive material which is used in opencast coal mines to remove over burden (OB). Company is going ahead with a plan to double its explosive material production by 2024-25.

Every day, SCCL requires 700 to 750 tonnes of explosive material to remove OB in 18 opencast mines across the Singareni. Though it requires about 3 lakh tonnes per year, Singareni is producing only 50,000 tonnes in two of its site mixed emulsion explosive plant (SME). While 30,000 tonnes is being produced in the Ramagundam plant, 20,000 in Manuguru.

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The remaining explosive material has been purchased from private operators. So, the management has decided to double the production of two SME plants. While the capacity of Ramagundam plant will be enhanced to 60,000 tonnes from 30,000, Manuguru plant’s capacity will also be increased to 40,000 tonnes from 20,000 tonnes.

On the other hand, SCCL has decided to set up a new SME plant (50,000 capacity) in Mandamarri of Mancherial district. For the purpose, it has also entered an agreement with Indian Oil Corporation Limited. IOCL, which will construct and operate the plant, will supply explosive material to Singareni. Once Mandamarri plant starts production, the total explosive material production of the company will reach 1.5 lakh tonnes per annum.

Since it required 3 lakh tonnes, they have to purchase the remaining 1.5 lakh tonnes from private operators, said N Ramesh, Project Manager, Ramagundam SME plant. When asked about production cost, there was a Rs 2000 difference between SCCL and private manufacturing price. Moreover, the material produced by the company was more qualitative.

While the Singareni was spending Rs 50,000 to produce a tonne of explosive material, the company has to spend Rs 52,000 to procure from private operators. Stating that flocculation in the price was common, project manager informed that so far, Rs 88,000 was the highest price paid by the company. Such a huge spurt took place during the time of the Ukraine war in 2023.

Explaining about the manufacture of explosive material in Ramagundam SME plant, Ramesh informed that they use 60 percent Ammonium nitrate and remaining 40 percent was covered by different ingredients.

Rs 54,000 was the cost of a tonne of Ammonium nitrate in the market, he informed and added that they were purchasing 60 tonnes every day. SCCL was purchasing Ammonium nitrate from RCF, owned by the central government. It was possible to remove 2 cubic meters of OB by using 1 kilogram of explosive material, he informed.