Sindh Engro Coal Mining (SECMC) has made history after unearthing the first layer of indigenous coal from its open-pit coal mine in Thar Coal Block II, at a depth of 140 meters below the surface. The mining firm’s machinery took out the first layer from an estimated 2.04Bn tons of coal resources in Thar Coal Block II, five months ahead of schedule. The successful extraction of the first coal seam not only proves that Thar’s indigenous coal is exploitable but can produce thousands of megawatts of cheap electricity for many decades, announced the CEO of SECMC. The open pit coal mine, with an annual output of 3.8Mn tons, will be supplying coal to Engro Powergen Thar Limited (EPTL) which is putting up a 2×330 MW mine-mouth power plant which is targeting to start power generation before the end of 2018.