The government could attract for Marki Mangli-I mine in Maharashtra bid touching Rs 715 a tonne from Topworth Urja & Metals, which was 40% above the floor price of Rs 505 a tonne.
The third tranche of coal blocks auction started on Tuesday and the aggressiveness among the bidders have refused to die.
On Tuesday, the first day of the bidding, two mines - Marki Mangli-I and Bhaskarpara - reserved for the unregulated, or non-power sector, were put on auction.
The government could attract for Marki Mangli-I mine in Maharashtra bid touching Rs 715 a tonne from Topworth Urja & Metals, which was 40% above the floor price of Rs 505 a tonne.
At this price, the mine, located in Yavatmal district would fetch the Maharashtra government Rs 712 crore during the life of the mine.
Marki Mangli-I is a working mine where its previous owner BS Ispat has been extracting coal with balance extractable reserve of 9.78 million tonne (mt) remaining.
The bid price premium garnered over the floor price for Marki Mangli-I, however, has come as a face saver for the government as the earlier auction for Marki Mangli-III mine located nearby had to be cancelled as the top bid of Rs 918 a tonne from BS Ispat for that mine was only 2% above the floor of Rs 900 a tonne.
BS Ispat was also the previous owner of Marki Mangli-1, the block which has been won by Topworth Urja, having captive power capacity of 62 mw at Nagpur and elsewhere while another 140 mw is being set up.
Spread over 6,400 hectare, Marki Mangli-I has mineable reserves of 20.64 mt, much of which, 16.93 mt, is underground requiring higher mining costs compared with surface mines.
Apart from Topworth, entities like Grace Industries and Lloyds Metal and Energy were also in the fray who dragged the bidding till 4 pm.
In contrast, the bidding for the other mine, Bhaskarpara in Chhattisgarh, continued till about 7 pm when Crest Steel and Power offered the highest closing bid at Rs 755 a tonne, a price which is 47% higher than the floor price of 513 a tonne.
Located in Surguja district, the mining lease area for Bhaskarpara is about 920 hectares with extractable reserve of 24 mt, most of which is available at the surface.
The block was previously owned by Bhaskarpara Coal Co, a consortium of Electrotherm and Ultratech.
The government, by Thursday, plans to soon auction about 11 coal mines which could not be sold in the first two phases of the recent coal block auctions.
Altogether 22 applications from large players like Hindalco, Vedanta, JSW and SAIL have cleared the initial stages.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "coal")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}