The auction process envisaged under second tranche of commercial mining for coal block sales has drawn to a close with the completion of financial round of bidding for the remaining blocks left in the pool.
The latest round of auction initiated for the blocks that had qualified technical round of “second attempt” of sales was held on 24 Dec’21.
Initially, the coal ministry had commenced the second tranche with an extended pool of 67 coal blocks, of which only 8 were sold in the first attempt.
Thereafter, a second attempt was launched to sell the 11 coal blocks which had fetched single bids in the previous round.
As part of the tender process, fresh sales were launched for these blocks. However, technical round saw bids came in only for four blocks, among which financial round of the auction was scheduled for the two blocks which had received more than one bid to decide on the winner.
The remaining two blocks namely- Tokisud and Gondbahera Ujheni are also in contention for allotment despite receiving a single bid, in tandem with the revised norms defined for the second attempt of sale. However, no final decision has been made so far.
Tussle over Lalgarh block
Bidding process based on revenue sharing model got off to a slow start, where Beheraband North block received a floor price of 9% in the final round. Auro Coal emerged as the winner for the block by quoting a final price of 9.5%.
In contrast, the Lalgarh North block was heavily contested amongst the three participants in order to secure the coking coal reserves present in it. After an intense round of bidding that lasted almost seven hours, Adhunik Power and Natural Resources came out on top, offering a closing bid of 48.5% against the floor price of 14.25%.
In total, 10 coal blocks have been sold under the second commercial coal mining auctions at an average final price of 29.85%, garnering a premium of 17.65% over the floor price.
Winners List in Second Tranche of Auctions
Leave a Reply