Coal sector
Massive Auction: Government Offers 67 Coal Mines Across 8 States"
To develop the coal sector for attaining national energy requirements, a series of reform measures have been undertaken by the Ministry. All mines falling within protected areas, wildlife sanctuaries and critical habitats, areas with over 40% forest cover, or heavily urbanized zones have been kept out in this tranche. Further, reserves of some coal mines located in densely populated areas, areas having more green cover, or falling under the zone of critical infrastructure have been modified to make it more attractive for auctioning.
Government to Kick Off 10th Round of Commercial Coal Block Auctions Next Week
This means that coal extracted from these blocks can be sold directly in the open market by producers. The government began the commercial coal block auction process in June 2020. Over nine auction rounds, the Ministry of Coal has successfully auctioned 107 coal blocks, boasting a peak rated capacity of 256 million tonnes (MT). To date, 11 of these commercial coal blocks are operational. Last year, commercial blocks produced 17.5 MT of coal.
Coal stock reaches 110.58 million tonnes, records 44% YoY growth
At the same time, in terms of coal dispatch to the power sector, the cumulative achievement for 2023-24 as on June 13 amounted to 164.84 million tonnes, registering a growth of 5.11 per cent compared to the corresponding period of last year, when it was 156.83 million tonnes, thus ensuring a steady supply of coal to meet the energy requirements of the power sector.
Government to offload 3% stake in Coal India via OFS route
The offer will open on June 1 for non-retail investors, while retail investors can bid for it on June 2. The divestment of Centre's 3 per cent equity also includes a Green Shoe option of 1.5 per cent. The size of the OFS is around Rs 4,000 crore, and its floor price is set at Rs 225 per share. This is at a discount of nearly 7 per cent from Coal India's current market price.
India now largest producer, importer of coal: Pralhad Joshi
Addressing the first Mining Startup Summit here, Joshi said that today India has the fourth largest coal reserves. "This year, the production of coal has reached 850 million tonnes. We hope to stop import of thermal coal completely by 2025-2026. Further, a transparent system has been put into place for exploration and auction and all discretionary power has ended," he said.
Coal India to phase out import of mining equipment costing Rs 4,500 crore
According to the government, Coal India imports high-capacity equipment such as electric rope shovels, hydraulic shovels, dumpers, crawler dozers, drills, motor graders, front-end loaders wheel dozer, continuous miners equipment and others worth around Rs 3,500 crore and pays Rs 1,000 crore as custom duty, incurring heavy expense on purchasing machinery through importing.
Mineral production index for mining sector rose 4.6% to 129 in February
Important minerals which showed positive growth during February 2023 over the previous year were phosphorite (60.2 per cent), coal (8.3 per cent), iron ore (7.4 per cent), lead concentrate (7.3 per cent), natural gas (3.2 per cent), zinc concentrate (1.1 per cent), limestone (0.9 per cent) and copper concentrate (0.5 per cent).
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