NEW DELHI (Commodity Online): Aiming the development of 18 abandoned underground mines under the state run Coal India Limited (BSE: COALINDIA: 533278, NSE: COALINDIA) has invited again the major firms to bid.
In 2008, the firm had invited the mining players for the mines and from the received tender, the short listed parties were invited but none attended.
The short listed candidates included ArcelorMittal, Rio Tinto, Reliance Natural Resources, JSW Steel and Essar Steel.
The abandoned mines were owned by the three sub diaries of CIL, they are Eastern Coalfields, Bharat Coking Coal and Central Coalfields.
“After a pre-notice inviting tender (NIT) meeting with the shortlisted parties, the government had approved the model NIT document. However, in the first round of limited tendering, none of the shortlisted parties responded. We are looking to go for a second round of tendering in another two months,” said N C Jha, chairman and managing director, coal India Limited on the sidelines of the firm’s 37th annual general meeting on 20th September (1st meeting after the company got it listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange.).
The 18 abandoned mines reserves accounts for around 1,600 million tons of coking and thermal coal. The mines where abandoned because of lack of safety measures and the technology.
Meanwhile the production of the company had seen a slash of 16 million tons in September and August due to heavy rain fall in Orissa, Jharkhand and some mines of ECL in West Bengal.
The company is planning for more acquisitions in foreign ground in order to ensure adequate supply of the coal. There are also moves taken to activate the Coal India Africana to take up exploration activities in holding coal blocks and looking forward for the acquisitions in Mozambique and also in Indonesia.
Coal India Limited in BSE traded at Rs 384.70 up at 2:40pm
