Coal Ministry to auction 39 mines in five states on November 15

The auction will mark a "further significant leap in the coal sector and taking a step forward, towards making India Atmanirbhar in coal," the government said in a statement.

The Ministry of Coal on November 13 said it is gearing up to launch the 8th round of auctions for commercial coal mines on November 15. During this, the ministry intends to auction 39 mines in five states, namely Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Odisha and West Bengal.

The auction will mark a "further significant leap in the Coal sector and taking a step forward, towards making India Atmanirbhar in coal," the government said in a statement.

The coal sector opened for commercial coal mining in 2020, with the first-ever successful auctions of commercial mining launched by the prime minister. Since then, the Ministry of Coal has conducted seven rounds and 91 mines have been auctioned, with a peak rated capacity of 221 million tons per annum, it added.

Coal from these mines can be utilised towards own consumption, sale or for any other purpose.

A total of 35 coal mines will be offered in the upcoming round, comprising 11 under the CM (SP) Act 2015 and 24 under the MMDR Act 1957. Among these, 14 coal mines are fully explored, while 21 are partially explored. Additionally, 4 coal mines are being offered under the second attempt of round 7.

Meanwhile, the coal ministry also stated that it has plans to produce additional quantity of dry fuel to ensure sufficient availability for thermal power plants, which include opening of new blocks, expansion of mines capacity and production from captive, commercial mines.

''All these three operational components are contributing and have clear plans for further enhancement. The production plans for year 2027 and 2030 will far exceed the likely domestic requirement of thermal power plants in the country, including that for likely additional capacity,'' the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry plans to produce 1,404 million tonnes (MT) of coal by 2027 and 1,577 MT by 2030 from the current level of production of about one billion tonnes per annum.

Coal supplied to domestic coal-based power plants is around 821 MT for the current year.

The ministry said it has taken note of the additional coal requirement for 80 GW of thermal capacity to be added by 2030.

The growth in power generation for domestic coal-based plants was recorded at 8.99 percent, while the growth in coal production was at 13.02 percent year on year. During the last three months, demand for thermal power has grown by over 20 percent from last year.