NEW DELHI: The Coal Ministry on Tuesday launched the auction process of 40 new coal mines. 21 new mines are under the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act 2015 and 19 are under the Tranche three of Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act 1957.
The auction is being launched at a time when scarcity of coal has led to electricity supply shortages across the country.
Issuing an official statement, the coal ministry said that the step has been taken following the successful auction of 28 coal mines in the first two tranches and there shall be a total of 88 coal mines on offer at present.
"Total geological resources of about 55 billion tonnes of coal are on offer from these 88 mines, of which 57 are fully explored mines and 31 are partially explored mines. There are four coking coal mines on offer," the government's statement read.