Three firms win coal mines

The mines which are on auction tomorrow are Amelia (North) mine in MP (power sector), Ardhagram mine in WB and Chotia mine in Chhattisgarh---non power sector

Jaiprakash Associates, Durgapur Projects and B S Ispat bagged one mine each on the third day of auction on Monday, taking the number of coal blocks sold through e-auction to eight. Jaiprakash Associates pipped Bharat Aluminium, Hindalco, Hindustan Zinc, Shree Cements and UltraTech Cement, among others, to secure the Mandla North mine. This block, marked for the non-power sector, has extractable reserves of 84 mt. Durgapur Projects beat CESC Ltd, Essar Power Gujarat Ltd, GMR Chhattisgarh Energy, JSW Energy Ltd, Lalitpur Power Generation Co Ltd, and Water Hyacinth Commosale, among others, to win the Trans Damodar mine, marked for the power sector and with extractable reserves of 48.40 mt.

B S Ispat won Marki Mangli III, marked for the non-power sector and has extractable reserves of 4.20 mt, leaving JSW Cement, Sunflag Iron & Steel and Topworth Urja and Metals Ltd and others behind. Sunflag Iron and Steel, CESC and Hindalco Industries had won one coal block each in the auction on Sunday.

"Certainly one must appreciate that these (mines on offer) are producing mines. So there will be more aggressive bids for these mines as we move towards mines which are not very easy to operate or which are in more remote areas," Coal Power and New & Renewable minister Piyush Goyal told reporters here earlier in the day.

The mines which are on auction tomorrow (fourth day of auction) are Amelia (North) mine in Madhya Pradesh (power sector), Ardhagram mine in West Bengal and Chotia mine in Chhattisgarh---non power sector.

Amelia (North) mine is likely to see bids from Adani Power, Bharat Aluminium Co Ltd (Balco), Essar Power M P Ltd, GMR Chhattisgarh Energy Ltd, GVK Power Goindwal Sahib Ltd, Jaiprakash Power Ventures, Jindal Power Ltd, JSW Energy Ltd, RattanIndia Power Ltd, Reliance Geothermal Power Pvt Ltd.

The five companies vying for Ardhagram coal mine are Easternrange Coal Mining Pvt Ltd, Monnet Ispat and Energy Ltd, OCL Iron & Steel Ltd, SS Natural Resources Pvt Ltd and Visa Steel Ltd.

The technically qualified bidders for Chotia mines are Balco, Godawari Power & Ispat Ltd, Hindalco Industries, Prakash Industries, Rungta Mines and Ultratech Cement Ltd.

Amelia (North) mine has extractable reserves of 70.28 MT, Ardhagram has extractable reserves of 19.29 MT, Chotia mine has extractable reserves of 13.57 MT.

After the Supreme Court cancelled allocation of 204 mines in September, the government decided to auction the blocks. It has put 19 blocks on sale in the first tranche. The last day for the auction of first lot of mine is February 22.