Coal auction Day 4: Jaypee Group, Gujarat Ambuja successful bidders

New Delhi, March 8
On the fourth day of auctions here for schedule III category mines whose earlier allotments were cancelled by the apex court, Jaiprakash Cement Corp and Gujarat Ambuja Cement emerged as successful bidders for the Mandla South and Gare Palma coal fields, respectively.

"Gare Palma 4/8 closes at 2291. Gujrat Ambuja Cement highest bidder," Coal Secretary Anil Swarup tweeted.

Bidding for the Ganeshpur block in Jharkhand was underway.

"Mandla-South closes at (Rs.) 1,852 (a tonne). Bidding on in other two blocks," tweeted Swarup earlier on Sunday.

Jaypee Cement gave a closing bid of Rs.1,852 per tonne for Mandla South, according to state-owned MSTC Ltd, the nodal agency that is monitoring the coal auctions.

Mandla South has a total extractable reserve of 13.4 million tonnes. Madhya Pradesh State Mining Corp was the previous allottee for the coal block.

The previous allottee of the Gare Palma block in Chhattisgarh, Jayaswal Neco Industries, was allowed to participate in the bid by a high court order of March 5.

Jayaswal Neco has challenged the coal ministry's decision rejecting the company's technical bid earlier on grounds that its coal requirement does not meet the extractable reserves of the Gare Palma IV/8 mine.

The other bidders in race for the mine included Ambuja Cements Ltd, Bharat Aluminium Company Ltd, Hindalco Industries Ltd, Rungta Mines Ltd, Sesa Sterlite Ltd and Shri Bajrang Power and Ispat Ltd.

In the second round of the auctions, the government has put up 15 blocks which are under the 'ready-for-production' category.

The government stood to gain an additional Rs.12,600 crore on Day Three of the coal auction on Saturday, potentially swelling its kitty by nearly Rs.145,000 crore from the 19 rounds in the first tranche and the three rounds thus far in the second leg, as per the latest data.

On day three, the Tara coal block in Chhattisgarh went to Jindal Power and the Dumri block in Jharkhand to Hindalco in the latest round. The third block on offer, Nerad-Malegaon in Maharashtra, went to Indrajit Power.

The auctions follow the Supreme Court's decision in September last to cancel the allocation of 204 coal mines allotted between 1993 and 2010.

Under the bidding process, participants are required to submit an initial financial bid along with the technical details.