Tata Steel, JSW Steel Eye Coal Expansion, Bid for for Coal Mines

21 Feb 2024 , 12:13 PM

On February 20, the Ministry of Coal announced that 27 companies, including Tata Steel, JSW Steel, JK Cement, and Rungta Sons, submitted their bids in the recent rounds of commercial mines auction.

These bids were placed on December 20, 2023, during the ninth round and the second attempt of the seventh round of commercial coal mines’ auction. The online bids were decrypted and opened electronically in the presence of the bidders on February 20. Additionally, sealed envelopes containing offline bid documents were also opened in the presence of bidders.

In the ninth round, a total of 27 coal mines were put up for auction, receiving 33 bids against 13 coal mines. In the second attempt of the seventh round, five coal mines were put up for auction, receiving seven bids against three coal mines.

Among the bids, the highest number, six, were placed for the non-coking mine based in Dumri during the second round. This was followed by five bids for the Lamatola mine, which is categorized as coking.

Rungta Sons placed the maximum bids at five, followed by four bids each by JSW Steel and JK Cement, and two bids each by Tata Steel and Sunflag Iron & Steel.

The bids will undergo evaluation by a multi-disciplinary technical evaluation committee, and the technically qualified bidders will be shortlisted for participation in the electronic auction to be conducted on the MSTC portal.