Three coal mines were put up for auction by the Ministry of Coal on the second day of the commercial coal mines auction.
NTPC Limited bagged the North Dhadu (Eastern Part) coal block in Jharkhand, which has 439 million tonnes (mt) of coal reserves. Hindalco Industries bagged the Meenakshi West block in Odisha, which has 950 mt of coal reserves and Bajrang Power and Ispat Limited won the Pathora East Coal Block in Madhya Pradesh that has 110.40 mt of coal reserves. The total geological reserves for these three mines are 1,499.40 million tonnes. The cumulative peak rated capacity (PRC) for these coal mines is four million tonnes per annum. Upon operationalisation, these coal mines will generate an annual revenue of Rs 4.50 billion calculated at PRC of these coal mines (excluding partially explored coal mines). The Ministry of Coal had launched the auction of coal mines for commercial mining under seventh round and second attempt of sixth round on March 29, 2023.