Bhubaneswar, The Centre has successfully auctioned four coal mines in Odisha for commercial mining under third Tranche of Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act.
During the e-auction completed recently, cumulatively 10 coal mines were put up for auction of which six coal mines were CMSP coal mines and remaining four were MMDR coal mines.
Out of the 10, four belong to Odisha. The mines are Bankhui, Bijahan, Meenakshi and Utkal C.
Yazdani Steel and Power Limited has emerged as highest bidder for Bankhui having a reserve of 800 MT coal while Mahanadi Mines and Minerals Private Limited is the top bidder for Bijahan having geological reserve of 327.05 MT.
Similarly, Hindalco Industries Limited is top bidder for the Meenakshi coal block (285.23 MT) and Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) for the Utkal C block (196.347 MT).
Among these four blocks, Bankhui is a partially explored coal mine while the other three are fully explored blocks, official sources said.
The offered price for the Bankhui mine is 18 per cent whereas the offered price for Bijahan, Meenakshi and Utkal C blocks are 14 per cent, 10.25 per cent and 45 per cent, respectively.
The total geological reserves for these mines are 1,608.626 Million Tonne (MT) and the cumulative PRC for these coal mines (excluding Bankhui) is 20.630 MTPA. The PRC for Bankhui is not available because it is a partially explored mine, official sources said here on Saturday.
The projected annual revenue based on the PRC of the three mines is Rs 2,228.57 crore. An estimated capital investment of Rs 3,094.50 crore is required for the fully exploration of the three mines and about 27,892 persons are likely to get employment from the auction, the sources said.
Under the commercial coal mining auction process a total of 42 coal mines, including the above 10 coal mines auctioned in Tranche-3, have been successfully auctioned till date with a total cumulative PRC of 86.404 MTPA.
The total geological reserves for all the 10 mines across the country are 1,716.211 MT and the cumulative PRC for these coal mines is 22.014 MTPA. The estimated annual revenue generation will be Rs 2,858.20 crore while a total of 29,580 persons are likely to get employment from the auction of all 10 coal mines.