On the second day of the second lot of coal block auctions, Trimula Industries Ltd bagged Meral mine for the non-power sector in Jharkhand, taking the total number of mines won by the company to five. "Meral coal block closes at (Rs) 727 (per t)," Coal Secretary Anil Swarup tweeted. Trimula bagged the mine by outbidding two companies - Easternrange Coal Mining Pvt Ltd and Usha Martin Ltd.
Meral mine, earlier alloted to Abhijeet Infrastructure Pvt Ltd, is in Palamau district of Jharkhand and has extractable reserves of 12.67 million t. However, auction of the Mandakini mine in Odisha for the power sector is still underway.
The companies in the race for the Mandakini mine are Adani Power Ltd , Adani Power Maharashtra Ltd, GMR Mining and Energy Pvt Ltd, Jindal Power Ltd, Mandakini Exploration and Mining Ltd and Wigeon Commotrade Pvt Ltd.
The Government has put on auction at least 15 ready-to-produce mines in the second leg of auction. The auction proceeds from the first lot of 19 mines is over Rs 1 trillion. The coal block auctions are taking place following the Supreme Court's decision last year to cancel the allocation of 204 coal mines.
Edited from source by Joe Green
Source: Money Control