Coal news and updates

Coal auction: Adani Power, Usha Martin, JSW emerge as successful bidders

In the second round of coal auctions on Wednesday, Adani Power Ltd, JSW Steel Ltd and Usha Martin Ltd emerged as successful bidders. Adani Power submitted a closing bid of Rs.302 per tonne for Jitpur coal field in Jharkhand, while Usha Martin’s closing bid for Brinda and Sasai fields was at Rs.1,804 per tonne. The Moitra coal block saw a closing bid Rs.1,512 per tonne from JSW Steel, according to data shared on the MSTC e-commerce official website. MSTC Ltd is the nodal agency to monitor the auctions. “Adani Power’s bid surely is an expensive one compared to the first round of coal auctions. The bid for Brinda and Sasai coal mine by Usha Martin looks reasonable given the coal block has high-grade coal, but very less land acquired,” said an analyst from a domestic brokerage firm who did not wish to be identified. The Jitpur block had earlier been allotted to Jindal Steel and Power Ltd before the deallocation of coal blocks. The field has a total 65.5 million tonnes (mt) of extractable reserves. Adani Power won the block and has agreed to forgo its mining cost. The block was reserved for the regulated power sector. This is the first time Adani Power has emerged as a successful bidder. The Brinda and Sasai coal mines in Jharkhand were earlier allotted to Abhijeet Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd and have extractable reserves of 15.2 mt. The Moitra block in Jharkhand has extractable reserves of 29.9 mt of coking coal. Jayaswal Neco Industries Ltd was the prior allottee of this block. In the first round of auctions, 18 schedule II coal blocks were auctioned, out of which successful bidders for just 15 blocks were listed by the government. On Thursday, auctions for Mandakini field in Odisha and Meral field in Jharkhand are likely to be conducted as per the schedule on MSTC’s website.

source: http://www.livemint.com