By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR/ANGUL: With commercial coal mining facing rough weather in Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh, Big Players train their eyes towards Odisha’s 9 Coal Blocks. Of the 9 blocks, fierce bidding for Odisha’s Chendipada (40 MTPA) and Macchakatta (30 MTPA) blocks is expected along with Chhattisgarh’s Gare Pelma IV/1 (6 MTPA) coal mine, sources said on Wednesday. Odisha will get Rs 10,648 Crore from 9 Commercial Coal Blocks.
Private players like Rungta Mines Limited, Jindal Steel and Power Ltd, JSW Steel-Energy, Essel Mining and Industries Ltd, Hindalco, Tatas, Sesa Goa, Vedanta Industries Ltd, Adani Group, Thriveni Earth Movers Pvt Ltd and global players like Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton, PesBody, Glencore and Vale are among those eyeing on Odisha’s Coal blocks.
26 companies have already bought the tender documents which costs Rs 5 lakh and 10 companies want to visit the proposed sites. The Ministry has appointed KPMG to handhold companies for mine visits, documentation and other such procedures.
The Union Coal Ministry has decided not to put up the Bander mine in Maharashtra for commercial coal auctions. The Ministry is also planning the same 4 mines with 20 million tonne per annum (MTPA) capacity in Chhattisgarh at the State Government’s request.
Though the withdrawn Bander mine had a relatively smaller capacity of 2 MTPA, the blocks to be replaced in Chhattisgarh — Mogra South (6 MTPA), Mogra 2 (10 MTPA), Sayang (4 MTPA) and Madanpur North (4 MTPA) — were relatively larger, the kind investors are more attracted to.Among the mines offered, analysts expect fierce bidding for Odisha’s Chendipada (40 MTPA) and Macchakatta (30 MTPA) blocks and Chhattisgarh’s Gare Pelma IV/1 (6 MTPA) coal mine.
Presently as many as 6 coal Mines blocks ready to start mining at Chhendipada block of Angul in Odisha. The coal mines of Odisha to be auctioned are Chendipada I, Chendipada II, Machhakata, Mahanadi, Radhikapur (East), Radhikapur (West), Brahmanbil and Kardabahal, Kuraloi (A) North, and Phuljhari (East and West). Earlier people had violently opposed coal mines at Chendipada in Angul allocated in favour of NALCO, TATA and Adani.
