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Tuesday, 13 September 11
CAPITAL COSTS OF INDIAN COAL MINING PROJECT - AN ANALYST VIEW
.jpg) By Mr Dipesh Dipu, Director - Consulting (Mining), Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India Private Limited
The coal mining sector that has been opened partially through captive mining route has seen allocation of 208 coal blocks to private sector, government-owned power generation and other downstream companies. These coal blocks, however, have had limited success in terms of operationalisation on time and at budgeted costs. These have led to serious concerns for coal supplies for power generation sector in India.
One of the key concerns for the development of the coal mines in India has been the quantum of capital required which is the determinant of expected returns from investment perspective and the viability of the project in terms of affordability of power so generated. The capital costs for coal mining projects typically include costs of land, capital equipment and infrastructure to support mining and logistics. Project costs also include capitalised expenses for clearances and approvals that help the mining project take off.
Elements of Capital Costs
Cost of land typically means the cost of acquiring surface rights for coal bearing land for which allocation has been made by the appropriate authority. The recent social concerns that have generated a lot of debate in the country centre on the cost of land which the companies are willing to pay for acquiring surface rights. The recent trends indicate that the land values head northwards since the time of announcement of a project, which makes it challenging to estimate the cost of land. In states that have vast coal resources, the land acquisition issues have been observed to be acute. In Talcher and IB Valley coalfields of Orissa, for example, there are a large number of coal blocks proposed with massive capacities. In these coalfields, it may therefore be expected that land costs will be relatively higher for the coal mining projects. Costs of mining equipment largely dominate the project costs, although due to higher costs of land acquisitions, its proportions are likely to be revised downward. The costs of equipment, typically, are functions of geological characteristics, technology, mine design and requirement of coal processing. Equipment costs also include costs of electricity supply features, drainage systems, environmental management systems, surveillance systems and several others. The costs of construction of coal handling plants and railway siding are parts of support systems for evacuation of coal and if the coal project is relatively farther from the nearest railhead, the costs will be higher. For pit-head power project, the costs include the conveying system from mine to the coal handling system of the power project.
Key Determinants of Capital Costs
Technology is a key determinant of capital cost. Underground coal mining and surface (or opencast) mining has different requirements. In the underground mining methods, there are variants such as bord and pillar, longwall, shortwall and variants for thick seam mining such as horizontal slicing and inclined slicing; sub-level caving and others. The accesses to coal seams are made either through inclines (surface drifts) or vertical shafts, each of which may have substantially different capital cost. In surface mining methods, equipment selection largely determines the project costs - shovel-dumper combinations, dragline, bucket wheel excavators are mostly used in India. The geo-technical parameters like dip and strike length, inclination of seams, thickness of overburden layer, and stripping ratio are indicators of specifications of equipment required, which, in turn, indicate the capital costs.
Equipment selection, therefore, is at the core of the determination of capital costs. In surface mining, the equipment selection takes into account the geological features such as partings between coal seams and expected bench heights. These impact the selection of size of shovels and matching dumper sizes. In such cases, the natural economies of scale need not work and hence, the capital costs per tonne of production versus capacity or size of excavators is a non-linear function.
Apart from the excavators and hauling equipment, capital cost of surface mines also depend on size and number of drilling machines, which, in turn, are dependent on the hardness of the rock. For blasting, the use of site mix slurries or site mix emulsion explosives can eliminate the need to maintain a magazine at mine project and thus, lower the capital costs. Relatively softer rock formation, such as those of lignite, the drilling blasting processes may be replaced by continuous mining system as bucket wheel excavator. Rock fragmentation and the requirement of crushing (including secondary crushing and sizing) will determine the additional equipment required that have a direct bearing on capital costs.
Hydrological characteristics of mine indicate the requirement of drainage and pump capacities. These may be significant where the water tables are high and may have large capital costs required to keep the working faces prevented from being inundated.
Estimates
According to estimates, investments needed in surface coal mining in India are in the range of INR 1500-2100 (approximately US$ 31.65 - 44.30) per tonne of rated capacity. For example, investment in a one million tonne per annum capacity mine is expected to be INR 210 crore (approximately US$ 44.295 million). This estimation is based on a stripping ratio of 4:1 and appropriate adjustments can be made for projects that have higher or lower stripping ratios. This, however, is as good as only an estimate and for the purpose of evaluations and investment decision making purposes, nothing can substitute a detailed plan, including equipment selection and fleet size determination.
For underground mining, the estimates are in the range of INR 1900-2800 (approximately US$ 40.07 - 59.05) per tonne of rated capacity. These are estimated for project that are shallow (within 150 meters depth) and are worked with semi-mechanized bord and pillar mining methods.
Business models change contribution to capital costs
At a high level, project costs remain more or less unchanged, irrespective of ownerships and financing pattern. However, for the project developers, the project costs are not nearly as significant parameters as are the equity investments and returns thereof. The business models now being contemplated and implemented substantially reduces the equity investment and causes the owner of the coal mine to focus on alternative investments such as, those in power generation capacity building. Contract mining is fast catching up in India as the preferred mode for development and operations of mines. The business model of hiring contract mining companies for overburden removal and even mineral winning is not a recent innovation. There are a number of new projects being planned through contract routes. Even the traditional mining companies like, the Coal India Limited and SCCL have been contracting out their mining operations. The scope of work in many cases involves the contract mining company to use their own equipment to carry on mining activities, which reduces the capital expenditure requirement of the coal mine owner.
In a total outsourcing model, the owners contract out all the processes including statutory approvals and clearances, land acquisition, mine development and operations. The recently floated tenders of a few state government owned power utilities are proponents of this model. The prospective bidders for the contract mining projects are expected to conduct their own geo-technical assessments, study the feasibilities and bid for the long term contract. The owner pays for all of these as the coal is mined and delivered to the owner. This model reduces the capital expenditure required by the owner for the coal mine development to nearly negligible.
Other business model is that of equipment leasing, which reduces the initial capital cost substituting the same by a more manageable lease rentals. The finance and operating types of leases help the mining project to have substantially lower cash outflows at the beginning of the project and help match the revenues with the costs when the mine starts the production of coal.
Capital Cost Management
Costs form a part of the decision-making process and cannot be used as a stand-alone decision-making tool. For this reason, there are several frameworks that can be used as a decision-making tool for surface and underground mining projects. These frameworks incorporate thinking obtained from viewing costs as a holistic entity. Strategic Cost Management (SCM) provides the thinking behind viewing costs as a strategic issue. Life Cycle Costing (LCC) suggests making use of the Net Present Value (NPV) approach to account for the use of the capital equipment. The LCC approach incorporates a tool into the framework that ensures that the cost of technology (capital) is accounted for over its lifetime.
Costing is the processing of expenditures to calculate their cost to each project. A typical and an ideal cost management profile is given below:
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As costs increase, performance gets impaired. When cost reduction is periodically initiated, it often results in a temporary cull of capabilities, directly impacting on future ability to deliver performance. Where cost reductions are achieved, performance often recovers temporarily, only for focus on proactive cost management to be lost, and for costs to begin to increase again. Without specific cost management action, this cycle can continue indefinitely.
It must be observed that the ability to influence project success and enhance value is greatest at the start of project evaluation and rapidly declines as a project advances towards implementation. In the same instance, the cost of change dramatically increases throughout each project evaluation stage. This suggests that the quality of the decision making in the early stages of project evaluation, primarily focused at capital costs, is critical to an optimal project outcome.
Cost Escalations and Indices
In coal mining projects, capital costs are dynamic and are inflated when the projects get delayed. Cost indexes provide a means of adjusting out-dated capital and operating cost information for the effects of inflation due to such delays. They are based on statistical averages of costs for specific items and time periods. There are the composite indexes for capital and operating costs for each of surface and underground coal mining and coal processing (preparation) operations, which are calculated taking into account several projects done in the past as well as taking economic indices into account. Indexes for specific cost centres, e.g., labour, equipment, transportation, fuel, explosives, tires, electric power, natural gas, and industrial chemicals are available, which are being used by the industry and the regulators to allow prudent escalations in the capital and the operating costs.
The above analysis was originally published on Infraline.
The views and opinions / conclusion expressed on this analysis is purely the writers’ own.
About Dipesh Dipu
Dipesh Dipu works as Director with Deloitte in the Energy and Resources consulting practice of the firm and anchors the Firm’s initiative in the mining and metals sectors. He is a mining engineering graduate from Indian School of Mines and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).
He has also done executive program in business management from Indian Institute of Management Calcutta. Dipesh has recently been awarded the Abheraj Baldota Gold Medal for the Young Mining Engineer of the Year 2007 by the Mining Engineers’ Association of India in recognition of his contributions in the improvement of mining industry in India.
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Tuesday, 23 August 11
PENRHYN COAL USING EVERGREEN ENERGYS COAL UPGRADING PROCESS
Evergreen Energy Inc has announced the successful testing results of the initial batches of Penrhyn coal using Evergreen Energy’s coal upgradi ...
Tuesday, 23 August 11
A SHARP INCREASE IN THE BDI - BRS
A sharp increase in the BDI this week, driven by the rise in Capesize rates. Overall the BDI was up 13.5% to 1,462 points on the back of a 20% surge ...
Monday, 22 August 11
INDONESIA TO BAN BELOW 5700 KCAL/KG COAL FOR EXPORT
COALspot.com - Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources of Indonesia is in the process of drafting a regulation which is requiring mine owners ...
Monday, 22 August 11
JATENERGY AGREED TO FORM JV WITH AN INDONESIAN COAL MINING COMPANY
COALspot.com - Australian’s listed company, Jatenergy Limited has entered conditional agreement to form joint venture with Indonesia’s c ...
Monday, 22 August 11
NTPC TO IMPORT 16 MILLION TON OF COAL TO BRIDGE THE GAP
COALspot.com - NTPC to import 16 million tons of imported coal, which is equivalent to 23-24 million tons of Indian coal to bridge the gap.
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- Merrill Lynch Commodities Europe
- Energy Link Ltd, New Zealand
- Alfred C Toepfer International GmbH - Germany
- ASAPP Information Group - India
- Madhucon Powers Ltd - India
- Salva Resources Pvt Ltd - India
- PetroVietnam Power Coal Import and Supply Company
- Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Banpu Public Company Limited - Thailand
- Baramulti Group, Indonesia
- India Bulls Power Limited - India
- Jindal Steel & Power Ltd - India
- Kumho Petrochemical, South Korea
- Simpson Spence & Young - Indonesia
- Petron Corporation, Philippines
- Riau Bara Harum - Indonesia
- Cigading International Bulk Terminal - Indonesia
- Kaltim Prima Coal - Indonesia
- Singapore Mercantile Exchange
- Indian Energy Exchange, India
- Indonesian Coal Mining Association
- London Commodity Brokers - England
- Power Finance Corporation Ltd., India
- Coastal Gujarat Power Limited - India
- Global Green Power PLC Corporation, Philippines
- Binh Thuan Hamico - Vietnam
- Coalindo Energy - Indonesia
- Xindia Steels Limited - India
- CIMB Investment Bank - Malaysia
- Aditya Birla Group - India
- Antam Resourcindo - Indonesia
- Sindya Power Generating Company Private Ltd
- Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk - Indonesia
- Parry Sugars Refinery, India
- Asia Pacific Energy Resources Ventures Inc, Philippines
- TeaM Sual Corporation - Philippines
- Mercuria Energy - Indonesia
- Mjunction Services Limited - India
- The State Trading Corporation of India Ltd
- Karaikal Port Pvt Ltd - India
- Altura Mining Limited, Indonesia
- Latin American Coal - Colombia
- Ind-Barath Power Infra Limited - India
- Bahari Cakrawala Sebuku - Indonesia
- Bhushan Steel Limited - India
- Trasteel International SA, Italy
- Rio Tinto Coal - Australia
- Siam City Cement - Thailand
- Directorate Of Revenue Intelligence - India
- Globalindo Alam Lestari - Indonesia
- Eastern Coal Council - USA
- SMC Global Power, Philippines
- Straits Asia Resources Limited - Singapore
- Sakthi Sugars Limited - India
- Kobexindo Tractors - Indoneisa
- Videocon Industries ltd - India
- Georgia Ports Authority, United States
- ICICI Bank Limited - India
- GAC Shipping (India) Pvt Ltd
- Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd, - India
- Central Electricity Authority - India
- Offshore Bulk Terminal Pte Ltd, Singapore
- Tamil Nadu electricity Board
- Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd - Australia
- Jaiprakash Power Ventures ltd
- Therma Luzon, Inc, Philippines
- Aboitiz Power Corporation - Philippines
- Ambuja Cements Ltd - India
- Gujarat Sidhee Cement - India
- VISA Power Limited - India
- Parliament of New Zealand
- Essar Steel Hazira Ltd - India
- Makarim & Taira - Indonesia
- Ministry of Mines - Canada
- European Bulk Services B.V. - Netherlands
- Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd
- Orica Mining Services - Indonesia
- Vedanta Resources Plc - India
- PTC India Limited - India
- Romanian Commodities Exchange
- Ministry of Transport, Egypt
- International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd - India
- Thiess Contractors Indonesia
- Global Business Power Corporation, Philippines
- Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd - India
- SMG Consultants - Indonesia
- Cement Manufacturers Association - India
- Gujarat Mineral Development Corp Ltd - India
- Bukit Baiduri Energy - Indonesia
- Economic Council, Georgia
- Savvy Resources Ltd - HongKong
- AsiaOL BioFuels Corp., Philippines
- Posco Energy - South Korea
- Marubeni Corporation - India
- Miang Besar Coal Terminal - Indonesia
- Bhatia International Limited - India
- Truba Alam Manunggal Engineering.Tbk - Indonesia
- Larsen & Toubro Limited - India
- Ministry of Finance - Indonesia
- Kapuas Tunggal Persada - Indonesia
- Anglo American - United Kingdom
- MS Steel International - UAE
- Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Japan
- Energy Development Corp, Philippines
- GVK Power & Infra Limited - India
- PowerSource Philippines DevCo
- Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd. - India
- Karbindo Abesyapradhi - Indoneisa
- Petrochimia International Co. Ltd.- Taiwan
- Sinarmas Energy and Mining - Indonesia
- TNB Fuel Sdn Bhd - Malaysia
- Standard Chartered Bank - UAE
- Barasentosa Lestari - Indonesia
- Port Waratah Coal Services - Australia
- Dalmia Cement Bharat India
- Timah Investasi Mineral - Indoneisa
- Jorong Barutama Greston.PT - Indonesia
- LBH Netherlands Bv - Netherlands
- Intertek Mineral Services - Indonesia
- Chamber of Mines of South Africa
- Meenaskhi Energy Private Limited - India
- Uttam Galva Steels Limited - India
- Mintek Dendrill Indonesia
- Bukit Makmur.PT - Indonesia
- Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited - India
- White Energy Company Limited
- Price Waterhouse Coopers - Russia
- Grasim Industreis Ltd - India
- Mercator Lines Limited - India
- Pendopo Energi Batubara - Indonesia
- Manunggal Multi Energi - Indonesia
- Interocean Group of Companies - India
- Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Bayan Resources Tbk. - Indonesia
- IEA Clean Coal Centre - UK
- Kalimantan Lumbung Energi - Indonesia
- Iligan Light & Power Inc, Philippines
- Africa Commodities Group - South Africa
- Central Java Power - Indonesia
- Kohat Cement Company Ltd. - Pakistan
- SN Aboitiz Power Inc, Philippines
- Australian Commodity Traders Exchange
- Billiton Holdings Pty Ltd - Australia
- Coal and Oil Company - UAE
- Siam City Cement PLC, Thailand
- Indika Energy - Indonesia
- Pipit Mutiara Jaya. PT, Indonesia
- Australian Coal Association
- McConnell Dowell - Australia
- Maheswari Brothers Coal Limited - India
- Electricity Authority, New Zealand
- PNOC Exploration Corporation - Philippines
- OPG Power Generation Pvt Ltd - India
- Attock Cement Pakistan Limited
- Renaissance Capital - South Africa
- Sarangani Energy Corporation, Philippines
- Directorate General of MIneral and Coal - Indonesia
- Kepco SPC Power Corporation, Philippines
- Orica Australia Pty. Ltd.
- Carbofer General Trading SA - India
- The Treasury - Australian Government
- Ceylon Electricity Board - Sri Lanka
- Star Paper Mills Limited - India
- Metalloyd Limited - United Kingdom
- San Jose City I Power Corp, Philippines
- Meralco Power Generation, Philippines
- Kideco Jaya Agung - Indonesia
- Thai Mozambique Logistica
- Malabar Cements Ltd - India
- Borneo Indobara - Indonesia
- Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
- CNBM International Corporation - China
- GMR Energy Limited - India
- Bharathi Cement Corporation - India
- Filglen & Citicon Mining (HK) Ltd - Hong Kong
- Bulk Trading Sa - Switzerland
- Indogreen Group - Indonesia
- Semirara Mining Corp, Philippines
- GN Power Mariveles Coal Plant, Philippines
- Deloitte Consulting - India
- Vijayanagar Sugar Pvt Ltd - India
- The University of Queensland
- Planning Commission, India
- Heidelberg Cement - Germany
- Agrawal Coal Company - India
- Minerals Council of Australia
- Independent Power Producers Association of India
- Global Coal Blending Company Limited - Australia
- Goldman Sachs - Singapore
- Samtan Co., Ltd - South Korea
- Indian Oil Corporation Limited
- Dr Ramakrishna Prasad Power Pvt Ltd - India
- Dong Bac Coal Mineral Investment Coporation - Vietnam
- Bangladesh Power Developement Board
- Bhoruka Overseas - Indonesia
- Vizag Seaport Private Limited - India
- Indo Tambangraya Megah - Indonesia
- Formosa Plastics Group - Taiwan
- Tata Chemicals Ltd - India
- Edison Trading Spa - Italy
- New Zealand Coal & Carbon
- Wilmar Investment Holdings
- Lanco Infratech Ltd - India
- Sree Jayajothi Cements Limited - India
- Semirara Mining and Power Corporation, Philippines
- Oldendorff Carriers - Singapore
- Holcim Trading Pte Ltd - Singapore
- Sical Logistics Limited - India
- Sojitz Corporation - Japan
- Eastern Energy - Thailand
- Kartika Selabumi Mining - Indonesia
- Commonwealth Bank - Australia
- Medco Energi Mining Internasional
- Asmin Koalindo Tuhup - Indonesia
- South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation
- Wood Mackenzie - Singapore
- IHS Mccloskey Coal Group - USA
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