May 3, 2022 - The World Coal Association has added its newest member, Indian mining supplier Gainwell Engineering.

Gainwell, a venture of Gainwell Commosales Private Limited, formerly Tractors India Private Limited, is an eight-decade supplier of Caterpillar Construction, Mining and Power Solutions.

The company and Caterpillar also recently announced it had made a preliminary deal to pass its longwall equipment arm on to Gainwell as the OEM exits the longwall mining business.

Gainwell’s global entrance into the WCA fold was made official late last week with a ceremony held in Kolkata, part of India’s growing vital leadership role in coal’s sustainable future.

Moreover, WCA CEO Michelle Manook called the addition of Gainwell a major step in the Evolving Coal journey.

“It is critical that countries like India and companies like Gainwell Engineering are leading the discussion on coal’s sustainable journey,” she said.

“We welcome the Gainwell Engineering management team who understand that as a cohesive coal value chain across multiple jurisdictions (including Australia, China, Russia, South Africa, United States), we will have the best chance to deliver on our global community’s collective economic development and environmental goals. For countries such as India, these ambitions are not mutually exclusive.”

Manook noted that Gainwell Engineering, as with all WCA members, supports the Association’s Climate Change position and embraces the Responsible Coal Principles, which are grounded by the principles of the Paris Agreement and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, respectively.

“The Association Members are differentiated from the others; part of and advocating for the responsible coal value chain to emerge as a vocal and visionary collective. A united group realistic, factual, and understanding that their demonstrated leadership and collaboration with governments and investors will advance the necessary technologies which support abated coal to address societal expectations.”

Gainwell Engineering Chairman Sunil Chaturvedi said that, while concerns over climate change and air pollution have highlighted the need to pursue a more sustainable path forward, no discussion of global climate change can ignore India, and no discussion of India’s energy future can ignore coal. 

“Coal remains the mainstay of energy security for India, but the country so far was entirely dependent on imported underground mining machinery for expanding its underground mining operations, especially coal,” he said.

“Gainwell Engineering is committed to imbibe the best of sustainability considerations in every aspect of its operations, from designing, engineering, and manufacturing to end-of-life recycling of equipment. India’s commitment to ‘Net Zero by 2070’ is an article of faith for Gainwell Engineering.”