In a bid to boost bidder participation in the commercial auction of coal mines, the Ministry of Coal will organise an investor conclave in Mumbai on 1 December, an official release said on Tuesday (29 November).

The conclave will be chaired by Union Minister of Coal Pralhad Joshi will Chair while Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde will be the chief guest.

After the successful auction of 64 coal mines in the first five tranches, Ministry of Coal had launched the process for auction of 133 coal mines under sixth round of commercial auctions of which 71 coal mines are new coal mines and 62 coal mines are rolling over from earlier tranches of commercial auctions held in November 2022.

Additionally, eight coal mines under second attempt of fifth round of commercial auctions were also launched where single bids were received in the first attempt, the Ministry of Coal said in a release.

The list of mines has been finalised post detailed deliberations. Mines falling under protected areas, wildlife sanctuaries, critical habitats, having forest cover greater than 40 per cent, heavily built-up area etc. have been excluded.

The block boundaries of some of the coal mines where there was presence of dense habitation, high green cover or critical infrastructure etc., have been modified on the basis of comments received during stakeholder consultations to enhance bidders’ interest and participation in these coal blocks, the ministry said.

"Key features of the auction process include reduction in upfront amount and bid security amount, permission to relinquish part of the coal mine in case of partially explored coal mines, introduction of National Coal Index and National Lignite Index, ease of participation with no entry barriers, full flexibility in coal utilisation, optimized payment structures, efficiency promotion through incentives for early production and use of clean coal technology," it added.

The sale of tender document for the auctions commenced on 3 November 2022.

The auction will be held online through a transparent two-stage process, on the basis of Percentage Revenue Share, the ministry said.

SBI Capital Markets Limited, the sole Transaction Advisor to Ministry of Coal for the commercial coal mine auctions, is assisting the Ministry of Coal in conduct of the auction, it added.