Coal news and updates

Lukewarm response for two coal mines in tranche III e-auction

As expected, a lukewarm response was witnessed in the e-auctions for Marki Mangli-1 and Bhaskarpara coal mines under tranche III on August 11 as both the mines are yet to come to the production stage.

“That the bidding will not be aggressive was along expected lines as none of the mines offered in tranche III are currently under operation and will take some time to get started,” an industry source said.

Only three bidders had technically qualified to bid for each of the mines.

For Bhaskarpara mine, Crest Steel & Power Pvt Ltd, Godawari Natural Resources Ltd and Jindal Steel & Power Ltd were in the fray while for Marki Mangli – 1, Grace Industries Ltd, Lloyds Metals & Energy Ltd and Topworth Urja & Metals Ltd were in the fray.

According information available from demo website of the auction, the bidding for Marki Mangli-1 started at Rs 505 per ton and after two hours of auction closed at Rs 513 per ton.

That the response is not that encouraging was visible from the fact that the opening bid came at Rs 507 per ton immediately after the auction commenced at 11 am and after nearly half an hour rose to Rs 513 per ton, which turned out to be the highest bid.

As far as Bhaskarpara is concerned, the bid started at Rs 513 per ton, rose to Rs 515 per ton soon and was finally settled at Rs 521 per ton.

In fact, the closing bid for both the mines include additional premium price (including fixed rate of Rs 100 per ton of coal extracted.

The Ministry of Coal will take a call on whether to accept the final bids for both the mines and then later in the day announce the winners.
 

Source: India Coal Market Watch (ICMW)