Coal Mines: NLC, ACC among eight top bidders

New Delhi: NLC India Ltd, ACC Ltd and JSW Energy Utkal Ltd are among eight companies that emerged the highest bidders for coal blocks in the tenth round of commercial mining auction.

The coal ministry launched the auction of commercial coal mines in June, while forward e-auctions for nine mines began November 21. In the forward auctions, the nine mines-three fully explored mines and six partially explored-were successfully auctioned. These nine mines have a combined geological reserve of around four billion tonnes and a cumulative peak rated capacity (PRC) of 14.10 million tonnes per year, excluding partially explored coal mines.

NLC bid the highest for the New Patrapara South block in Odisha, having geological reserves of 720.9 million tonnes. ACC was the highest bidder for Sarai East (South) in Madhya Pradesh. JSW Energy Utkal was the highest bidder for Odisha's Bartap mine, which has the highest reserves among all blocks at 1.6 billion tonnes. The mines are expected to generate annual revenues of ₹1,446 crore.