Coal mine auction restarts; ACC, Jaypee Cement in race

After a day's pause due to legal issues, the coal block auction resumed today with companies such as ACC, Jaypee Cement and JK Lakshmi Cement vying for Majra mine in Maharashtra.

Coal Secretary Anil Swarup tweeted, "Bidding for Majra coal block commences... Applicable floor price at Rs 800."

Companies like ACC, Crest Steel and Power, Emami Cement, Grace Industries, Jaypee Cement and JK Lakshmi Cement are in the race for the Majra mine, which has extractable reserves of 14.92 million tonnes, an official said.

Majra mine was earlier allotted to Gondwana Ispat.

The coal block auction hit a legal hurdle yesterday, forcing the government to defer the auction of one mine and withdraw another from the third tranche, in which firms like Hindalco, JSPL and Vedanta technically qualified.

The government had deferred the auction of Chitarpur coal mine in Jharkhand because of a court case, which was scheduled for sale yesterday.

The other coal block -- Parbatpur Central coal mine in Jharkhand -- was withdrawn from the process on representation that it contains gas.

In a notice to the bidders of Parbatpur Central and Chitarpur mines, the Coal Ministry said yesterday: "... bidders may kindly note that the Parbatpur Central Coal Mine is withdrawn from the process of auction..."

"Consequent to hearing dated August 11, 2015 in writ petition (C) 7630/2015 (Kolkata Glass and Ceramics Pvt Ltd vs UOI) before High Court of Delhi, the e-auction of Chitarpur Coal Mine shall not be held on August 12, 2015."

The date of e-auction of Chitarpur block, the notice had said, will be intimated later.

"Parbatpur Central mine would not be auctioned as it is a gassy mine and therefore, we have got a representation that it should be withdrawn," an official had said.

On the first day on Tuesday, the government auctioned two blocks in Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra, which fetched Rs 2,529 crore.

Crest Steel and Power, a Topworth Group entity, emerged as the highest bidder for Bhaskarpara mine in Chhattisgarh that earned the government Rs 1,817 crore.

The group's arm Topworth Urja & Metals also emerged as the highest bidder for Marki Mangli-I mine in Maharashtra. Marki Mangli-I mine went for Rs 712 crore.

The government had earlier said it will auction 10 coal mines for steel, cement and captive power plants. Before this, the government had auctioned 29 coal blocks in two tranches to private companies and garnered over Rs 2 lakh crore.

The Supreme Court in September last year had cancelled allocation of 204 coal mines to companies without auction.