Coal auctions Day 4: Jaypee Group wins MP mine

On the fourth day of auctions here on Sunday for schedule III category mines whose earlier allotments were cancelled by the apex court, Jaiprakash Cement Corp emerged as the successful bidder for the Mandla South coal field.

Bidding for Ganeshpur and Gare Palma sector IV/8 was underway.

Jaypee Cement gave a closing bid of Rs.1,852 per tonne for Mandla South, according to state-owned MSTC Ltd, the nodal agency that is monitoring the coal auctions.

Mandla South has a total extractable reserve of 13.4 million tonnes. Madhya Pradesh State Mining Corp was the previous allottee for the coal block.

In the second round of auctions, the government has put up 15 blocks which are under the 'ready-for-production' category.

The government stood to gain an additional Rs.12,600 crore on Day Three of the coal auction on Saturday, potentially swelling its kitty by nearly Rs.145,000 crore from the 19 rounds in the first tranche and the three rounds thus far in the second leg, as per the latest data.

On day three, the Tara coal block in Chhattisgarh went to Jindal Power and the Dumri block in Jharkhand to Hindalco in the latest round. The third block on offer, Nerad-Malegaon in Maharashtra, went to Indrajit Power.

The auctions follow the Supreme Court's decision in September last to cancel the allocation of 204 coal mines allotted between 1993 and 2010.

Under the bidding process, participants are required to submit an initial financial bid along with the technical details.