Coal news and updates

Industry majors in race to grab 10 coal blocks on offer

Industry biggies like JSW, Hindalco, Jindal Iron and Steel and Vedanta would compete with each other to win the bids for ten coal blocks to be auctioned in the third tranche next month. State-run steel companies SAIL and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited are also in the fray for mining rights for these blocks having total geological reserves of 858.19 million tonne.

Of the ten mines which were offered in the earlier rounds of auctions, six including Parbatpur Central and Marki Mangli-1 blocks had failed to attract bidders. A total of 31 bids received for these mines by the ministry, the highest number of six bids has been received for Majra and Jamkhani coal blocks in Maharashtra and Odisha respectively for the third round followed by five bids for Chitarpur mine in Jharkhand. However, Marki Mangli-IV did not attract any bid, according to a coal ministry statement.

In the first stage of the tender process, bidders were required to submit their technical bids on state-run enterprise MSTC’s e-commerce portal. They were also asked to submit a sealed envelope containing bank guarantees for bid security by July 24.

After the last date, the online bids were decrypted and opened electronically in the presence of bidders. The bids will be evaluated by a multi-disciplinary Technical Evaluation Committee and qualified bidders would be shortlisted for participation in the electronic auction to be conducted on the MSTC portal from August 11. During the last two tranches 29 blocks were auctioned, while 38 mines have been allocated to state-run companies. The tender process for tranche III of auction for 10 coal mines comprising of two Schedule II and eight
Schedule III coal mines started in June 8.

source: http://indianexpress.com