The Coal Ministry has auctioned 29 coal mines in the latest round of commercial coal mine auctions.

The ministry had launched the auctions of coal mines for commercial mining under sixth round and second attempt of fifth round on 3 November last year, the biggest tranche of auction of commercial coal mines, which has drawn to a close on Thursday, said an official release.

"In the auctions held a cumulative 29 coal mines were successfully auctioned," the Coal Ministry said in a release.

The 29 coal mines that were auctioned include 22 fully explored coal mines and 7 partially explored ones.

Further, the total geological reserves for these 29 coal mines are around 8,160 million tonnes.

According to the ministry, the cumulative peak rated capacity (PRC) for these coal mines is 74.96 million tonne per annum ( MTPA) (excluding partially explored coal mines).

Coal production from these mines would significantly reduce the demand for imported thermal coal and will also reduce dependence on public sector coal mining companies.

The ministry said that the commercial coal mine auctions will create value for the society in the form of job creation and infrastructure development in the coal bearing areas and also make a sizeable contribution to the states’ revenues with annual revenue generation of around Rs 14,650 crore (excluding partially explored coal mines) calculated at PRC of these coal mines.

The ministry expects that these auctions will result in the capital investment of approximately Rs 11,250 crore and employment generation for 1,00,000 people approximately.

The monetized value of these mines is Rs. 71,192 Crores exceeding the target set by Ministry of Finance. These mines once operational will contribute to more than 7% of country’s coal requirement.