Displaying items by tag: auction

India: Following the start of India's coal mine auction on 14 February 2015, in which Reliance Cement won the Sial Ghoghri mine in Madhya Pradesh for US$22.5/t, more mines have now been sold.

On the second day of the auction, 15 February 2015, Reliance Cement lost out on a mine in Maharashtra to Sunflag Iron and Steel, which bid US$28.7/t. Similarly, Aditya Birla Group's Hindalco Industries, which bid US$45.9/t for the Kathautia mine in Jharkhand, beat UltraTech Cement. The mine has 26Mt of coal reserves.

On the third day of the auction, 16 February 2015, Jaiprakash Associates won the Mandla North mine, which has 143Mt of extractable coal reserves, for US$40.3/t. UltraTech Cement and Hindalco Ltd had also placed bids for the mine. B S Ispat won the Marki Mangli III mine in Maharashtra for US$14.7/t, beating several rivals, including JSW Cement. The mine has 4.2Mt of extractable reserves.

India: The first of India's coal mines were auctioned on 14 February 2015. Reliance Cement won one mine for US$128m. Reliance Cement beat Hindustan Zinc and OCL Iron and Steel. The mine has 29.4Mt of total reserves and 5.69Mt of extractable reserves. The block had previously been allotted to Prism Cement earlier. Bidding for the first lot of mines will continue until 22 February 2015. Coal and Power Minister Piyush Goyal said that the money that the government will get from the auctions will be utilised for the development of the states.

India: JSW Energy, Reliance Cement and Ambuja Cement are among the 134 companies that have cleared the initial stages of coal auction for 21 blocks put up by the government. "Out of the 176 applications we received, 134 are found to be technically valid," said Coal secretary Anil Swarup.

The government had initially planned to auction 23 mines in the first round, but has put on hold bidding for two mines due to litigations. Of the 134 bids that are technically qualified, 12 are for the Gare Palma IV/7 coal mine in Chhattisgarh, making it the most sought after mine. Jaiprakash Associates and UltraTech Cement are among the 12 bidders. The Amelia (North) block and Bicharpur mines, both in Madhya Pradesh, have 10 bidders each.

Swarup said that the Ministry will go ahead with the auction of mines as per the schedule, though there have some court cases as a consequence of which there have been some changes. "Consequent to an interim order of the High Court, the auction of two mines has been put on hold. These are the Gotitoria East and Gotitoria West mines," said Swarup. The Coal Ministry had put both of the blocks in the unregulated sector, but the Court had directed that they should be considered for regulated sector.

India: The government has asked Coal India Ltd (CIL) to stay away from the initial rounds of coal block auctions due in January 2015 that are meant for the cement, power and steel industries. The state-run monopoly miner has, however, requested the government to reallocate a few blocks to it, including two that it had lost that were being jointly developed with private firms.

"We are a commercial producer of coal and we do not fit into the category for which the blocks are being auctioned," said a senior CIL official. "CIL will stay away from the first rounds of auctions." However, CIL is likely to participate in bidding when coal blocks are auctioned for commercial mining.

The company has requested that the government return the blocks that it lost following the Supreme Court's order rendering almost all allotments illegal 'because substantial investment has already been made by all parties in these blocks.' CIL had floated majority joint ventures with two private companies to undertake mining projects in those two blocks.

India: The Indian government plans to hasten the coal block reallocation to the private sector through auctions, although the new Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Ordinance skips the issue of a regulator. According to government officials, 74 producing blocks would be put up for online auction by December 2014 and a regulator will not be not required.

"The coal blocks, which would be put for e-auction, are all for end-usage in power, cement and iron production," said a government official. "It's the commercial mining by private companies that needs to be put under vigilance and that would be done later after the first batch of auction commences."

Valuation of coal reserves and assets in the 74 blocks will be done by a committee under Pratyush Sinha, former chief vigilance commissioner. The transparent auction process in December 2014 will start with a pool of 42 operational and 32 nearing-production mines.

Through the ordinance, the government has added enabling provisions in the Coal Mines (Nationalisation) (CMN) Act, 1973 and the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957, to allow commercial mining in the country.

"The priority is to make available coal to the sectors in want of fuel. Undoubtedly, once the sector opens up, a regulator would be needed. The powers and constitution of the regulatory body is yet to be dwelt upon and it would be for the non-operational cancelled coal blocks," said a government official.