By Anurjay Dhal
BHUBANESWAR: Continuing its driving performance in the ongoing commercial coal block auction, Jharkhand’s Chaibasa headquarters Rungta Sons Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of Rungta Mines Ltd, on Friday emerged as top bidder for as many as 3 Coking coal block in Jharkhand.
These were all coking coal blocks and namely Babupara East, Lalgarh South and South of Damuda.
For South of Damuda, which has a Geological Reserves of 291.71 (MT) coking coal , Rungta Sons Pvt Ltd committed to pay 21.25% premium to Government .
For Lalgarh South block in Jharkhand, which has a Geological Reserves of 260.00 (MT), RSPL bid highest with 21.25% and for Babupara East in Jharkhand, which has a Geological Reserves of 160.00 (MT), RSPL won it by committing to pay 60.25%.
In the forward auctions conducted during the week, a total of 13 coal mines were successfully auctioned, in which RSPL bagged 3 blocks.
Other successful bidders included JK Cement Ltd, Mahan Energen Ltd, Sunflag Iron and Steel Company Limited, JMS Mining Private Limited, Nilkanth Infra Mining Limited, S M Steels and Powver Limited, Indermani Mineral India Pvt Ltd, Bull Mining Private Limited, ACC Limited, JK Cement Ltd.
Out of the 13 auctioned mines, 4 coal mines are fully explored coal mines and 9 mines are partially explored coal mines. The total geological reserves for these 13 coal mines are ~ 2569.76 Million Tonnes. Cumulative PRC for these coal mines is 4.2 MTPA (excluding partially explored coal mines).
Ministry of Coal had launched the auctions of coal mines for commercial mining under 8th round on November 15, 2023 and 9th round on December 20, 2023. In the forward auctions conducted during the week, a total of 13 coal mines were successfully auctioned.
The auctions witnessed a strong competition with an average revenue share of 25.96%. This is a testament to the continued interest of industries in the coal mining sector and continuous efforts of Ministry of Coal in providing transparent & stable policy framework. These mines will contribute to Annual Revenue generation of ~652 crores (excluding Partially Explored coal mines) and capital investment of approximately Rs 630 crore and employment generation for 5,678 people. This round also witnessed auctioning of 5 coking coal mines which is the major importing coal in the country. These coking mines once operationalized will reduce the dependency of the country on imported coking coal.
Since, the launch of commercial coal mines since 2020, a total of 104 coal mines have been successfully auctioned having production capacity of 226 Million ton per year. After operationalization, these mines will immensely contribute to enhance domestic production of coal and make country ‘Atmanirbhar’ in coal sector. These mines are expected to generate annual revenue of Rs 33,738 crores, capital investment of Rs 33,930 Crores and will generate employment for 3,05,815 persons in coal bearing area.
