Hindalco, Jindal Power bag 1 coal mine each on 3rd day of auctions

Hindalco Industries emerged the highest bidder for the Dumri mine in Jharkhand at an estimated bid worth Rs9,809 crore while Jindal Power Ltd bid the highest for the Tara block in Chhattisgarh at Rs2,103 crore.

This is the second time that Jindal Power has emerged as the highest bidder for a block and this time it is the ready-to-produce coal block Tara in Chhattisgarh, for which Jindal Power's bid was Rs126 a tonne.

In the previous auction in February it won back two coal blocks previously held by it (See: Jindal to pay Rs108 per tonne, Ruia Rs1,110 a tonne as coal blocks auction hits Day 6).

Hindalco bid the highest for Dumri at Rs2,127 per tonne. "Hindalco, highest bidder at Rs2,127 (per tonne) for Dumri and Jindal Power at Rs126 for Tara coal block," tweeted coal secretary Anil Swarup.

Bidding for Nerad Malegaon in Maharashtra, which started at Rs413 per tonne, is still on.

There were eight bidders vying for Dumri block in Hazaribag district of Jharkhand, which has extractable reserves of 46.13 million tonnes.

The companies in the race included Balco, Easternrange Coal Mining Private Ltd, Hindalco Industries Ltd, Lakeview Dealtrade Private Ltd, Rungta Mines Ltd, Natural Resources Private Ltd, Sesa Sterlite Ltd and Usha Martin Ltd.

The mine was previously allotted to Nilachal Iron & Power Ltd and has preliminary forest clearance and awaits forestry clearance for mining lease.

Nine companies, including Adani Power Ltd, Adani Power Rajasthan Ltd, Adani Power Maharashtra Ltd, Athena Chhattisgarh Power Ltd, Jindal Power Ltd, JSW Energy Ltd, KSK Mahanadi Power Company Ltd, LANCO Amarkantak Power Ltd and RattanIndia Nasik Power Ltd, were vying for Tara block in Surguja district of Chhattisgarh.

The block with extractable reserves of 166.92 million tonnes was previously allotted to Chhattisgarh Mineral Development Corporation.

The Nerad mine in Malegaon in Yavatmal district of Maharastra, where bidding is still on, has extractable reserves of 10.29 million tonnes. The mine was previously allotted to Gupta Metallics & Power Ltd and Gupta Coalfields & Washeries Ltd.

Those in the race for it are Godawari Power and Ispat Ltd, Grace Industries Ltd, Indrajit Power Pvt Ltd, OCL Iron and Steel Ltd and Sunflag Iron and Steel Company Ltd.

Meanwhile, Mandakini Exploration and Mining had, on 5 March, bagged Mandakini block in Odisha while Trimula Industries bagged the Meral mine in Jharkhand, in the process contributing an estimated Rs19,633 crore to the state's kitty.

Under the second leg of auction, the government has put 15 blocks for sale, which are under ready-for-production category.

The auction from first lot of 19 mines netter the government over Rs100,000 crore.