Commercial coal mine auctions bidding date extended to January 13.

The Coal Ministry said recently said it has extended the bidding due date for commercial coal mine auctions to January 30 after receiving numerous requests for an extension from the stakeholders.

In November, the Ministry launched the 6th round of commercial coal mine auctions along with the second attempt at the 5th round of commercial coal mine auctions. The due date for the submission of online and offline bids was December 30, 2022.

The Ministry has organised investor conclaves in Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Indore recently, for which a tremendous response was received. Many requests for extension of the bid due date were received during the conclaves and also in writing at the office of the nominated authority, Ministry of Coal, the ministry said in a statement.

“In response to such requests from prospective bidders, the Ministry has extended the bid due date till January 13, 2023,” it added.

The revised auction schedule has been uploaded on the MSTC portal, and prospective bidders are advised to adhere to the timelines provided in the revised schedule for bid submission, it said.

The centre has launched India’s largest coal mine auction, under which around 141 mines are slated to go under the hammer. So far, the Ministry has concluded five tranches of commercial coal mine auctions and has successfully allocated 64 coal mines.

Of this, around 28 mines have gotten the vesting order, and two mines in Jharkhand have begun production, with a cumulative output of more than 2.5 million tonnes as of October 2022.

The coal sector has been opened up for commercial coal mining in 2020, and the first ever successful auction of commercial mining was launched by the Prime Minister on June 18, 2020.

HBL