Mining firm Vedanta and Indian aluminium and copper manufacturing company Hindalco Industries are among the private firms that emerged as winner bidders in the day-1 of commercial coal mine auction in India.
The companies have been chosen to operate the five coal blocks, which were put on electronic auction by the Indian Ministry of Coal on the first day, without end-use restrictions.
The five blocks include Chakla, Jharkhand; Marki Mangli-II, Maharashtra; Radhikapur (West), Odisha; Takli-Jena-Bellora (North) & TakliJena-Bellora (South), Maharashtra; and Urtan, Madhya Pradesh.
Vedanta placed highest bid for Radhikapur West coal mine
Vedanta quoted a 21% premium on the revenue share to win the Radhikapur West mine, which has estimated geological reserves of 312.04 million tonnes.
Hindalco Industries quoted a 14.25 premium on the revenue share from the Chakla mine with estimated geological reserves of 76.05 million tonnes.
Additionally, real estate firm Aurobindo Realty and Infra has placed the highest bid of 30.75% for the Takli-Jena-Bellora (North and South) mine.
Yazdani International emerged as the winning bidder for one of the smallest mines on offer on the first day, the Marki Mangli-II mine. It quoted 30.75% premium over the revenue share.
For the Urtan mine with 55.391 million tonne reserves, JMS Mining won the bid. It offered a 10.50% premium over the revenue share.
Indian Ministry of Coal and Mines secretary Anil Kumar Jain was quoted by The Economic Times as saying: “The bids are competitive and reasonable. They have been hotly contested. The states will benefit in terms of revenue generation as well as employment creation.”
The auctions are conducted in two stages with the first stage involving the submission of a technical bid, which is then evaluated by the coal ministry.
The shortlisted bidders then submit financial bids, offering their respective revenue share to be paid to the government.
Recently, a Reuters report said the Indian government is planning to replace retiring coal-fired power plants with renewable power to help reduce the nation’s carbon footprint.
