Coal auctions: Jindal Power regains Gare Palma mine

Four coal blocks were bid out to private players on Wednesday, and the largest of this — Gare Palma IV/1 mine in Chhattisgarh — went to Jindal Power. As in the first two days of the first phase of auctions undercommercial mining, aggressive bidding was seen in the case of smaller blocks, while larger peers also saw a good response.

The Gare Palma IV/1 mine, with an annual peak production capacities of 6 MT, earlier belonged to JPL’s parent firm Jindal Steel and Power. The Supreme Court in its September 2014 order cancelled licences of 204 captive coal blocks, including this one. It was auctioned off again in November 2019 where JSPL was the highest bidder, but the government subsequently cancelled the auction.