New Delhi: Aditya Birla group firm Hindalco Industries has won the Gare Palma IV/5 mine in Chhattisgarh by outbidding companies like BALCO, Sesa Sterlite, Ambuja Cements, which were also vying for the same block.
"Gare Palma IV/5 mine was won by Hindaco Industries at Rs 3,502 per tonne. The mine was put on offer yesterday and the bidding for the block lasted for over 12 hours," a senior Coal Ministry official said.
Gare Palma IV-5 mine has estimated extractable reserves of 42.43 MT.
The companies that were bidding for Gare Palma IV-5 mine are Ambuja Cements Ltd, BALCO, Hindalco Industries, Monnet Ispat and Energy Ltd, Rungta Mines Ltd, Sarda Energy and Minerals Ltd and Sesa Sterlite Ltd.
Hindalco has bagged two mines out of the 13 put on offer so far.
On the second day of auction, Hindalco Industries had won Kathautia mine in Jharkhand.
Six states, including Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Odisha, will gain nearly Rs 80,000 crore from the 12 coal blocks auctioned by the government till Wednesday, helping the coal ministry to gain an edge in court cases challenging the bid process. The coal ministry expects sale proceeds of 204 coal blocks to surpass the earlier estimates of Rs 7 lakh crore.
The total number of blocks sold so far is 13 with Essar Power MP Ltd bagging the Tokisud North mine in Jharkhand on the fifth day of the coal auction yesterday. Essar Power agreed to forego mining cost and paid the host state Rs 1,110 per tonne. The block was owned previously by GVK Power and has a capacity to produce 2.8 million tonnes per annum. Other bidders were Dhariwal Infra, GMR Energy, GVK Power and Jaiprakash Associates.
The government is auctioning the coal blocks after the Supreme Court cancelled allocation of 204 mines in September last year. It has put 19 mines on block in the first tranche.
The 12 companies will pay Rs 8,462 crore as royalty to the state governments during the life of these mines. During the first five days of coal block auction, Madhya Pradesh emerged as the biggest gainer receiving sale proceeds of Rs 26,843 crore from three blocks, followed by West Bengal at Rs 11,203 crore from three blocks.
