Essel Mining highest bidder for Radhikapur coal block

BHUBANESWAR: Essel Mining and Industries Limited (EMIL), a part of the Aditya Birla Group, has emerged as the highest bidder for Radhikapur (East) coal mine in Talcher coalfield area of Angul district. This was the second coal block in Odisha auctioned in the fifth day of commercial coal mine sale on electronic platform on Friday. The e-auction witnessed stiff competition from companies like Adani Enterprises, Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) and Nalco vying for Radhikapur (East) mine. Spread over an area of 10.16 sq km, the coal block has a net proved reserve of 176.33 million tonne (MT) of fossil fuel.

It is estimated that the block will generate annual revenue of `466.58 crore upon attending the peak rate capacity of 5 MT per annum. As per the mining plan submitted by the previous lessees, the annual mining capacity of the coal block is 5 MT. The Radhikapur (East) received a final offer of 16.75 per cent (pc) from EMIL against the floor price of 4 pc.

On November 2, the first day of coal block auction, Vedanta Limited had offered the highest 21 pc revenue share over the reserve price of 4 pc for Radhikapur (West) coal block in Talcher coalfield area. EMIL was also one of the bidders, the others being Adani Group’s Chendipada Collieries and JSPL, for Radhikapur (West) having a geographical reserve of 312 MT of coal.

A total of 17 coal mines have been auctioned in the 11th tranche under the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015 till Friday. While 38 coal mines were initially put on auction, the Coal Ministry received technical bids for 23 coal blocks. The remaining blocks did not get any response from the market.