Commercial coal mining: Jindal Power Ltd, JMS Mining, Boulder Stone Mart emerge winners on Day 3

• While Jindal Power bagged the Gare-Palma-IV/1 coal block in Chhatisgarh, Boulder Stone Mart Pvt Ltd secured the Gotitoria (East) and Gotitoria (West) coal mine in MP

• The Gotitoria (East) and Gotitoria (West) coal mine saw the most aggressive bidding with Boulder Stone Mart Pvt Ltd proposing 54 percent revenue sharing

New Delhi: Jindal Power Ltd, JMS Mining Pvt Ltd and Boulder Stone Mart Pvt Ltd have emerged as winners on Day 3 of the e-auction for commercial coal mining. While Jindal Power bagged the Gare-Palma-IV/1 coal block in Raigarh district of Chhatisgarh, Boulder Stone Mart Pvt Ltd secured the Gotitoria (East) and Gotitoria (West) coal mine in Narsinghpur district of Madhya Pradesh (MP) and JMS Mining Pvt Ltd got the Urtan North coal mine in Anuppur district of MP.

"The e-auction witnessed strong competition amongst the bidders with all mines attracting good premiums over the floor price," said an official statement. The Gotitoria (East) and Gotitoria (West) coal mine saw the most aggressive bidding with Boulder Stone Mart Pvt Ltd proposing 54 percent revenue sharing. This is also the highest percentage share of revenue offered by any bidder during the entire e-auction process so far. For the Gare-Palma-IV/1 block, Jindal Power proposed 25 percent revenue sharing. And the Urtan North coal block saw JMS Mining Pvt Ltd offering 9.50 percent revenue sharing. The mines have a total geological reserve of 161.53 Million Tonnes (MT). 

ALSO READ: Who are the winners on Day 1 of e-auction process?

Commercial coal mining: Next round of e-auction

The Ministry of Coal will hold the next round of e-auction for coal mines on November 5. The coal mines on offer include Rajhara North (Central & Eastern) coal block in Palamau district of Jharkhand and Sahapur (East) coal block in Shahdol and Umaria districts of Madhya Pradesh (MP). The bidding process would open at 11 am and close at 1 pm.

ALSO READ: New players & a state-run organisation win coal blocks on Day 2

The backdrop

The Coal Ministry, in association with FICCI, launched the process for auction of these coal mines on June 18. The decision of opening up the coal sector for commercial mining was part of a series of announcements made by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan. The Centre amended the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015, in May to simplify the auction process and attract investors to the sector. The amendment removed the requirement for miners to use coal only for captive purposes and allowed commercial mining by private players. The step is aimed at raising the domestic production of coal in order to cut India's dependence on imports.  

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