Coal washing plant to be set up at Lakhra coalfields

Sindh government has decided to establish the coal washing plant at Lakhra coalfields, district Jamshoro, to remove impurities and reduce import of coal after developing its good quality, Business Recorder learnt on Thursday.
According to officials, the decision in this regard was taken at a recent meeting with Additional Chief Secretary (Development) in the chair that was attended by the officials Mines and Mineral Development Department and the Sindh Coal Authority. The coal washing plant at Lakhra, spread over an area of 130 square kilometre with at least 1.328 billion tons of coal reserves, would cost the provincial government Rs 100 million and would be completed in 24 months, they said.
The said washing plant would establish on the basis of public-private partnership (PPP), they said, adding that the Sindh Coal Authority would execute its development work to overcome all the related problems to remove impurities of coal. It was need of the hour to adopt latest technologies to make the coal clean and environment-friendly during its use in the power plants, cement industry and making coal briquettes, they opined.
The washing of coal, which has not been done yet, would help to reduce the high sulphur and ash contents and other impurities such as shale while the calorific value would increase, they added.
The officials said that the generation of thousands of mega watt electricity was expected from the Lakhra Coalfields in coming future and it would be laudable if the coal be washed and used for power and other industrial use by installing high-capacity washing plants at the site.
The Lakhra Coalfield was explored by the geological survey of Pakistan during 1992 under a joint coal resources assessment program of southern region of Sindh province. These activities are the part of the National Coal Resources Exploration and Assessment Programme, which is being carried out under the auspices of the government of Pakistan and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), they informed.
Presently, Lakhra Coal has been used in cement industry, brick making and sugar industry and the washing process by adopting modern technologies would further improve coal utilisation in the power generation. It would also reduce specific consumption from 0.777 kg/KWH to 0.533 kg/KWH as per the recorded standard, they said. Moreover, the coal at Lakhra contains at least 28.9 percent moisture, ash 18 percent, volatile matter 27.9 percent, fixed carbon 25.2 percent, sulphur 4.7-7.0 percent and calorific value 4622-7554 Btu, the official further said.