The Nominated Authority, Ministry of Coal, had launched the auction process of 38 coal minesin the first tranche of auction for Sale of Coal(commercial mining).

In the first attempt of auction under 11^thTranche of Auction under the CM(SP) Act2015 and under 1^st Tranche of Auction under the MMDR Act1957, out of the 38 coal mines, 19 have been successfully auctioned.

Out of the remaining mines, 4 coal mines which had fetched single bid in the first attempt were put up for re-auction in a second attempt by Ministry of Coal with the same terms and conditions but with the highest Initial Offer received in the first annulled attempt of auction as the Floor Price for the second attempt.Of these 4 mines under second attempt of auction, one mine Kuraloi (A) Northhad received a bid and has now been successfully auctioned with Vedanta Limited being the Successful Bidder.

With the successful auction of Kuraloi (A) North coal mine, the total number of mines successfully auctioned in the first tranche of auction for commercial mining is 20 out of total 38 coal mines offered, with a success percentage of ~52.63% for the first tranche.

Kuraloi (A) North located in Odisha with a Peak Rated Capacity of 8 MTPA is the largest mine in terms of PRC of all the mines successfully auctioned in the first tranche. Kuraloi (A) North is expected to generate an annual revenue of ~Rs. 763 crores andalso provide employment to over 10,000 people.

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SS/KP