Govt begins auction for 11 coal mines

New Delhi: The Centre on Monday has launched the 'second attempt' of auction process for 11 coal mines for commercial mining.

These were the mines which were offered in the first attempt launched on March 25 this year and had fetched single bids, the coal ministry said in a statement. "The Nominated Authority of the Ministry of Coal has launched today the second attempt of auction process for eleven coal mines (4 mines under the Tranche 12 of CM(SP) Act and 7 mines under the Tranche 2 of MMDR Act) earmarked for sale of coal in accordance with the rules prescribed under these Acts," the statement said.

Out of these 11 mines, six are fully explored and five are partially explored. The auction will be held online through a transparent two-stage process, on the basis of percentage revenue share. Key features of auction process include introduction of National Coal Index (NCI), ease in participation with no restriction for prior coal mining experience, full flexibility in coal utilisation, optimised payment structures, efficiency promotion through incentives for early production and use of clean coal technology.

"The commencement of sale of tender document shall start from September 27, 2021," the ministry said. The Ministry of Coal had earlier said that it has executed agreements with the eight successful bidders pursuant to the auction of second tranche of coal mines for commercial mining. Eight coal mines have been successfully auctioned with the winning percentage of revenue share ranging from 6 to 75.5 per cent with an average per cent revenue share of 30 per cent, the ministry had said.

The electronic auction of these mines was conducted in the first week of August this year. In the first attempt of auction under 11th tranche of auction under the CM (S) Act 2015 and under first tranche of auction under the MMDR Act 1957, out of the 38 coal mines, 19 were successfully auctioned.