Coal auctions: 10 mines up for bidding in August

The government will put 10 more coal mines up for auction in the third phase in next month, parliament was told on Thursday.

"The government has issued an order for auction of 10 coal mines with 858.19 million tonnes of geological reserves and 356.26 million tonnes of extractable reserves in the third tranche," Power and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal told the Lok Sabha in a writen reply.

"These 10 coal mines are earmarked for the non regulated sector - cement, iron and steel, captive power plants," he said.

"The e-auction of these mines is proposed to be held from August 11-17, 2015 and the process of allocation is scheduled to be completed by September 2015," he added.

In reply to another question the minister said that in case of the 67 mines already auctioned in the earlier rounds, the coal ministry has taken proactive measures to ensure that statutory clearances, including environment and forest clearances, are transferred to the successful bidders and allottees expeditiously.