Ministry of Coal on Monday said it has started the process of auctioning 27 coal mines and allocated 15 mines to central PSU and state PSUs (public sector undertakings).

The government has given more thrust on auctioning of coal blocks as previous attempts received a weak response from bidders in wake of subdued market conditions.

As per the objective of auctioning of coal blocks, 21 coal mines are being auctioned for end-use industries that are non-regulated, while 6 coking coal mines are reserved for exclusive bidding by companies engaged in iron and steel sector.

In case of allotment of coal mines to public sector undertakings, 5 mines are for the power sector, 9 for sale of coal and 1 for iron and steel.

"At Peak Rated Capacity (PRC), these 42 coal mines will produce approximately 70 MTPA," coal ministry said in a statement.

The electronic bidding will be conducted on the state-controlled MSTC (formerly Metal Scrap Trading Corporation) electronic platform. The last date of registration of bidder and sale of tender document is September 13, 2019 and bid due date is September 19, 2019.

"The electronic bidding will be conducted on MSTC Platform from October 10, 2019, to November 8, 2019," it added.  

Edited by Chitranjan Kumar