It was carved out of South Eastern Coalfields Limited in 1992 with its headquarters located Sambalpur.

[3][4] MCL has two subsidiaries with private companies as a joint venture.

The total capital outlay of 45 projects is ₹6,076.78 crore (US$700 million) & out of which 28 with a total capacity of 73.98 Mty have been completed by 1 April 2009 with a sanctioned capital investment of ₹2,348.61 crore (US$270 million).

Approval of Garjanbahal OCP (10.00 Mty) has been stalled temporarily due to delay in getting Forestry clearance.

and two JV projects Gopalprasad OCP (15.00 Mty), Talabira OCP (20.00 Mty) with a capital investment of ₹3,728.17 crore (US$430 million) are under implementation.