Ministry of Coal launches 10th round of auctions, over 100 industry reps participate

The Ministry of Coal reported that over 100 industry representatives participated in the pre-bidding meeting for the 10th round of commercial coal mine auctions. The virtual meeting, held under the chairmanship of Additional Secretary and Nominated Authority M Nagaraju on Friday, marked the launch of this auction round on June 21, 2024, offering 67 coal mines.

During the meeting, the ministry presented a detailed overview of the auction process, led by the Transaction Advisor, SBI Capital Markets Limited. CMPDIL, another advisor, provided a technical presentation on the coal mines available in this 10th tranche of commercial auctions for the sale of coal on a revenue-sharing basis.

The ministry addressed various queries from bidders concerning the general terms and conditions of the process, such as bid security, upfront amount, rebates, and technical issues like borehole density, Peak Rated Capacity, and technical difficulties.

To boost participation in the auction process, the ministry assured bidders of maximum support and encouraged them to direct their queries to the Office of the Nominated Authority. The bid due date for this auction tranche is August 27, 2024.

In an effort to increase coal production in India, Union Minister of Coal and Mines G Kishan Reddy launched the 10th tranche of commercial coal mine auctions on June 21 in Hyderabad.

The coal mines in this 10th round of allocation are located in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Telangana, and West Bengal. Sixteen mines will be offered in Odisha, followed by Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, where 15 coal mines will be auctioned.

Previously, Coal India Limited (CIL) had awarded 23 coal mines to private sector bidders under a revenue-sharing model, aiming to exploit the latent coal reserves in some of its closed and discontinued underground mines