NLC India Ltd, ACC Ltd, and JSW Energy Utkal Ltd were among the five companies that bagged five mines on the first day of the tenth round of commercial coal mine auction, according to an official statement issued on November 21.
While ACC Ltd bagged a coal mine in Madhya Pradesh, NLC India Ltd and JSW Energy Utkal Ltd won one block each in Odisha.
Two other companies that won coal blocks are Mineware Advisors Pvt Ltd and Shreeji Nuravi Coal Mining and Trading Pvt Ltd.
A total of nine blocks been put on sale in the tenth round of auction.
"On the first day, five coal mines were put up for auction," the statement issued by the coal ministry said.
India will continue to rely on coal for power generation for at least another decade. This is because of two reasons revolving around energy security and affordability — the unprecedented growth in power demand is likely to touch 335 GW by 2030 from the current 240 GW, and the high costs involved in energy storage which acts as a barrier to round-the-clock renewable energy supply.
To meet the growing demand, the government has revised its plan to increase the country’s coal-fired power generation capacity to about 80 GW by 2030 instead of 51 GW as was planned earlier. This means more coal needs to be mined for increased supply to thermal power plants.
One of the five coal mines is fully explored while four are partially explored.
The total geological reserves for these five coal mines are 2,630.77 million tonnes. Cumulative Peak Rated Capacity for these blocks is 12 MTPA.
The government launched the auction of coal mines for commercial mining under the tenth round on June 21.
"After evaluation of bids, forward e-auctions for nine mines commenced from November 21," it said.
These five mines upon operationalisation will generate an annual revenue of Rs 1,106.91 crore. These mines will attract capital investment of Rs 1,800 crore and will provide employment to 16,224 people.
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