Balco wins the coal block Chotia in Chhattisgarh in Tuesday’s auction

After aggressive bidding, Vedanta Group’s co-owned Bharat Aluminium Co won the Chotia mine in Chhattisgarh at the auctions held on Tuesday by the Indian Minstry of Coals, offering the highest bid of INR 3,025 per ton beating competitors like Hindalco and Ultratech Cement.

The mine that boasts of good quality coal reserves with a capacity of providing one million tons per annum was previously owned by Prakash Industries before it was de-allocated and put up for auction. Imported coal of a similar grade would cost about INR 4,500 per tonne.

On Wednesday, two more coal blocks will go on auction Tokisud North coal mine which was earlier allocated to GVK Power and up for auction for the power sector while the other is for the unregulated sector Gare Palma IV/5 in Chhattisgarh. Balco is eligible to bid for both these coal blocks among many other competitive businesses.