Adani, Usha Martin, JSW Steel bag coal mines in 2nd leg of auction

The second round of e-auctioning of coal blocks started on Wednesday with Adani Power bagging Jitpur mine in Jharkhand while Usha Martin and JSW Steel winning Brinda/Sisai mines and Moitra mine, respectively, in the same state.

Jitpur which was allocated for power sector, was won by Adani which quoted Rs 302 per tonne while Brinda/Sisai, reserved for unregulated sector like steel or cements, was bagged by Usha Martin which quoted Rs 1,804 per tonne. Moitra, which was also for unregulated sector, was bagged by JSW Steel at Rs 1,512 per tonne.
 
Jitpur coal block in the Godda district of Jharkhand has extractable reserves of 65.535 million tonnes mt. Jitpur mine was earlier allocated to Jindal Steel & Power Ltd (JSPL).
Brinda and Sisai coal mines have total extractable reserves of 25.40 mt. Though Brinda and Sisai are two coal mines, the government came out with one bid for both. The mines were for the non-power sector.

Usha Martin beat BALCO, Sesa Sterlite and Easternrange Coal Mining Pvt Ltd to bag Brinda and Sisai mines in Chatra in Jharkhand. The two blocks were earlier alloted to Abhijeet Infrastructure Pvt Ltd.

Moitra mine in the Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand has extractable reserves of 29.91 mt. It was earlier alloted to Jayaswal Neco. The e-auction proceeds from the first lot of 19 mines was over Rs 1 lakh crore. The auction follows the Supreme Court decision last year to cancel allocation of 204 coal mines.