Next round of coal auction to have only small and medium-sized mines

The mines won't have legacy or legal issues as the Centre is trying to make the process as seamless as possible

The Ministry of Coal will offer only small and medium-sized mines in the second tranche of commercial coal mining auctions to attract new and small mining players. Most of the mines that would be on offer have been evaluated to ensure they do not fall in eco-sensitive zones, said officials.

These mines won’t have legacy or legal issues as the Centre is trying to make the process as seamless as possible, they said. The ministry has also decided to offer new mines apart from the ones in the original list of cancelled mines from 2014.

In the previous round, larger mines with