The Union Ministry of Coal and Mines is poised to begin a detailed exploration of mining blocks for faster operationalisation of auctioned coal mines, after a review meeting by Minister G Krishan Reddy.

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The direction came in a review meeting held on Thursday by Reddy with the officials of the Coal Ministry to review the management of captive and commercial coal blocks.

The Union Minister directed that more coal blocks should be offered in the subsequent rounds of auctions to enable participation by more and new investors.

The Coal Ministry will launch the 10th round of commercial auction of coal mines on June 21, setting the tone for a faster pace for coal block auction and operationalisation.

During today's review meeting, it was discussed that technical eligibility does not require any prior experience in coal mining for an investor participating in coal block auction.

Any company which has financial strength can participate, as the coal mines are now being auctioned for the purpose of sale of coal, which is without end-use restriction. Any investor can participate in the coal mine auctions and coal produced in such mining is free to be sold in the open market for any purpose, including for export.

The ministry has so far auctioned 161 coal mines with peak rated capacity of 575 million tonnes (MT). Out of which 58 mines have received mine opening permission and 54 mines are into operation.

Last year these mines have produced total of 147 MT of coal, which constitutes 15 per cent of the total coal production of the country.

On June 19, the Ministry of Coal said that despite the extremely high demand for power, the coal stocks at Thermal Power Plants remain robust, exceeding 45 MT as of June 16, 2024, which is 31.71 per cent higher compared to the same period last year when it was 34.25 MT.

As of June 16, cumulative coal production stands at 207.48 MT, reflecting a growth of 9.27 per cent compared to the corresponding period last year.