Coal auction: JSW Steel, Adani Power and Usha Martin bag mines

Adani Power, Usha Martin and JSW Steel bagged mines in the second leg of coal block auction that began today.
Government has put on auction atleast 15 ready-to-produce mines in the second leg of auction. All the four mines in the first day of the ongoing auction phase are in Jharkhand.
Adani Power bagged Jitpur mine, located in Godda district has extractable reserves of 65.535 million tonnes (MT), according to an official.
It beat the likes of Adhunik Power and Natural Resources, Jaiprakash Power Ventures and Jindal Power. Jitpur mine, earlier allocated to Jindal Steel & Power Ltd (JSPL), was earmarked for the power sector.

"Jitpur closes at (Rs) 302 (per tonne)," Coal Secretary Anil Swarup tweeted.
Usha Martin won Brinda and Sisai mines, earmarked for non-power sector, at a bid of Rs 1,804 tonne.

"Usha Martin is the highest bidder at (Rs) 1804 for Brinda and Sasai coal block," Coal Secretary Anil Swarup tweeted.
Usha Martin participated in e-auction of Brinda and Sasai coal blocks for meeting captive requirements of fuel for steel making and power generation, the company said in a BSE filing.
Bid opened at Rs 1802 and soon closed at Rs 1804. Both mines fall under schedule III category for which certain regulatory clearances are yet to be obtained.

Brinda and Sasai coal mines have total extractable reserves of 25.40 million tonnes (MT). Brinda and Sasai are two coal mines but government came out with one bid for both.
Usha Martin beat BALCO, Sesa Sterlite and Easternrange Coal Mining among others to bag the two mines in Chatra of Jharkhand. The blocks were earlier allotted to Abhijeet Infrastructure Pvt Ltd.
JSW Steel bagged Moitra mine, according to an official .
"Moitra coal block closes at Rs 1512," Swarup tweeted.
Others in race for Moitra mine, earmarked for non power sector, were Jayaswal Neco Industries Ltd, JSW Steel and SAIL. Moitra mine, situated in Hazaribagh district, has 29.91 MT extractable reserves. It was earlier alloted to Jayaswal Neco.

There are two methods of bidding for auction of coal blocks--forward bidding (for unregulated sectors like steel, cement and captive power) and reverse bidding (for specified end use for power generation).
Mandakini mine (for power sector) in Odisha and Meral mine (for non-power sector) in Jharkhand are on auction tomorrow.
The auction proceeds from first lot of 19 mines is over Rs 1 trillion. The auction follows the Supreme Court's decision last year to cancel allocation of 204 coal mines.