By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI/BHUBANESWAR: The Ministry of Coal, after a long gap of 4 years, has approved the allocation of five Coal Mines.
Odisha’s Jamkhani Coal block in Sundargarh district goes to Vedanta Ltd. The Jamkhani block has a reserve capacity 114.98 MT which comes under Grade-11 while on operational, the block will produce coal 2.6 MTPA. The price set by the Ministry was per tonne Rs 1674. Rs 13,057.20 revenue will generate in 30 years.
The Jamkhani coal block is the company’s second coal block after the Chotia coal block in Chhattisgarh that has an annual capacity of 1 million tonne. Jamkhani coal block in Odisha’s Sundargarh district in the government’s tenth tranche of coal block auction for captive use. The coal block is in proximity to the company’s Jharsuguda aluminium smelter that it will feed.
Once operational, the coal block will provide fuel security, improve power availability and further strengthen the company’s aluminium operations and performance.
Birla Corporation Limited got Bikram, Brahampuri coal blocks in MP and Bhaskarpara of Chhattisgarh while Powerplus Traders Private Limited got Jagannathpur-B Block in West Bengal.
This was the result of the electronic auction conducted by Ministry of Coal in first week of November 2019. The Ministry had initiated the auction processes for 27 coal mines for Non-Regulated sectors previously.
The auction is part of the government’s initiative to attract private sector participation in India’s mining sector which has otherwise so far been unable to get much of it. Vedanta is a subsidiary of the London-based Vedanta Resources Limited.
The significant feature of the allocations is that for the first time, the successful bidders shall have the flexibility to sell 25% coal produced in the open market. This will boost the coal production in the country and reduce the dependence of industries on imported coal. It is also envisaged that this step will generate huge revenue for State Governments where the mines are located in the form of Upfront Amount, Royalties and other applicable taxes.
