By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR/TALCHER: After Radhikapur (East and West) that were bagged byVedanta Group and Aditya Birla Group, the Union Coal Ministry has put 3 blocks in Odisha for auction out of the total 4 in the fray including 1 in Jharkhand. Chendipada, Chendipada-II and Kuraloi (A) North coal mines in Odisha were put for auction, sources said.
Naveen Jindal led Jindal Steel and Power Limited, which had bagged Gare Palam block in Chhhttisgarh, is eyeing on Chendipada blocks under Talcher Coal Fields in Angul, sources added. JSPL had bid highest for Gare -Palma-IV/1 coal block in Chattisgarh with a reserve capacity of 84.262 MT and 6.00 MTPA by 25% worth Rs 652.10 crore.
JSPL operates the world’s first coal gasification based DRI plant of 2.0 million tonne capacity at Angul in Odisha, where syngas is used to make direct-reduced iron (DRI) or sponge iron, an input required in the steel-making process. JSPL’s coal gasification plant capacity is 225,000 NM3 per hour of syngas, which is supporting the 2.0 million MT of syngas based DRI plant.
JSPL currently has a requirement of around 5.5 million MT per year of metallurgical coal and 7 million MT of thermal coal requirements. Improved domestic availability will reduce dependence upon imported thermal coal. Also, India is dependent upon imported metallurgical coal, but the Government’s impetus on coal gasification will likely reduce the dependency on imported metallurgical coal in the future.
“The nominated authority conducted the first attempt of 11th tranche of auction under CM(SP) Act and 1st tranche of auction under the MMDR Act of identified coal mines/ blocks vide tender document dated June 18, 2020,” the Coal Ministry said in a notice inviting tender.The blocks, which are fully explored, have an annual peak-rated capacity of 52 million tonnes (MT).
“The nominated authority is initiating the second attempt of auction of these coal mines with the same terms and conditions as in the first annulled attempt of auction,” the Ministry said.Earlier, Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi said 19 auctioned mines will generate total revenues of around ₹7,000 crore per annum and create more than 69,000 jobs once they are operationalised.
Earlier, 19 blocks were successfully auctioned inclduing 19 mines, 11 are opencast, 5 are underground mines and remaining 3 are a mix of underground and opencast mines. These mines are spread over 05 states Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Jharkhand and Maharashtra and have consolidated Peak Rated Capacity (PRC) of 51 Million Tonnes Per Annum (MTPA).
