The Ministry of Coal (MoC) is set to launch the third tranche of coal auctions under the commercial mining category, based on a rolling mechanism concept. This means, the coal mines rolled over from the previous tranche will also be on offer.
The concept was introduced during the previous tranche which underlines that a particular coal block would remain in the pool for sale till it has been selected.
Accordingly, the latest round of auctions would feature the 48 coal blocks which went unsold in the second tranche. The ministry has also informed that 40 new coal blocks will be offered in the third tranche.
The details of these new blocks are likely to be announced during the launch event on 12 Oct’21.
In total, the third tranche will offer 88 coal blocks for sale, thereby surpassing the pool of 67 blocks seen in the previous tranche.
In a simultaneous process, the ministry recently commenced a re-attempt to sell 11 coal blocks that had featured in the second tranche.
It may be recalled that in the second tranche, only 8 out of the 67 blocks were sold in the first attempt. Among the remaining blocks, 11 had received single bids and have been considered for second attempt. The rest were left unsold with no bids.
The recent efforts indicate the government’s aim to expedite coal production by utilising the existing resources against the backdrop of a looming coal crisis in the country.
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