The first auction of coal blocks for commercial mining was completed on Monday, with five mines going under the hammer. Vedanta Resources emerged as the highest bidder for Odisha’s Radhikapur West coal mine, offering 21 per cent revenue share for the mine, which has estimated reserves of 312 million tonnes of coal with a peak capacity of 6.0 million tonnes per annum.
The auctions will include 14 more coal blocks and are set to continue till November 9, with the successful bidders to be announced by November 11.
“The first day of auction of coal mines for sale of coal saw strong and healthy competition among the bidders,” said a government release, noting that the auction process for some of the mines lasted for “3-4 hours”.
