Govt receives bids for 6th round of commercial coal auction

In the technical stage of the sixth commercial coal auction, which offered 133 coal and lignite mines, the government has received bids for 32 mines.

According to a statement from the administration, 86 bids were submitted for the 32 coal mines. The 56 businesses that filed proposals were NTPC Ltd, Jindal Power Ltd, Jindal Steel & Power Ltd, Vedanta Ltd, JSW Steel Ltd, NLC India Ltd, Dalmia Cement, Shree Cement, Ultratech Cement, and Ambuja Cement.

An evaluation committee will review the bids, and the technically qualified bidders will be shortlisted for the electronic auction's next stage.

32 coal mines were offered, and 32 have been fully or partially investigated. The total annual peak rated capacity of the coal mines that have been fully explored is 85.62 million tonnes. Coking coal, which is primarily utilised in the making of steel, is found in one of the 32 mines.

The mines in Chhattisgarh's Gare Palma Sector IV/2 and IV/3, which have been thoroughly explored, attracted most bids.

The second-highest number of offers were received for the fully explored Namchik Namphuk mine in Arunachal Pradesh, which was followed by Banai-Bhalumuda in Chhattisgarh.

Four of the eight mines that had only received a single bid in the fifth tranche were offered again in the most recent auction.

According to the official, two of the four mines received single bids once more and will now be taken into consideration for allocation.

For all of the mines offered in the sixth round, the deadline for submitting technical bids was Monday.

According to the government, this is the biggest bid that has ever been submitted since the auction for commercial coal mines began in June 2020.

In the sixth round of commercial auctions held in November, the coal ministry had offered 133 coal mines, 71 of which were brand-new and 62 of which were carried over from prior tranches.

109 coal and lignite mines, as well as the second try of the fourth and third rounds, were auctioned in the auction's fifth round. 17 mines in total, with a peak annual capacity of 51 million tonnes, were successfully placed.