The decision was taken in a meeting of the company board on Wednesday. The development comes in the wake of Finance Ministry approval last month for the public sector firm to go-ahead with a buyout of overseas firms that are unlisted.

“It was decided during the board meeting that if the offers were valid then they can be evaluated by Coal India,” a top official with Coal India privy to the development said. “The company will take up three offers— in Australia, Indonesia and the US,” the official said.

The PSU has put together a war-chest of Rs 6,000 crore for acquisition of mines. The Finance Ministry last month gave permission to the company to go ahead with its plans to acquire unlisted firms overseas.

On CIL’s request for a relaxation in the PSU guidelines stipulating a minimum 12% internal rate of return (IRR) on investments, the Finance Ministry had said the company can proceed with such proposals if they are of strategic nature, but these will have to be cleared by the government.

CIL had also sought to sidestep the rule that only the mines of listed companies should be acquired, which was permitted by the Finance Ministry.

The world’s largest coal miner has zeroed in on three unlisted overseas coal assets for acquisition. It had sought clarifications from the Finance Ministry before entering into serious dialogues with owners, having received proposals offering an IRR between 9% and 12%.
Agencies

The chairman cited various reasons like heavy rainfall, strike and delays in the grant of forestry and environmental clearances to coal projects for the downward revision in the production target. The public sector firm also said it was planning to mine between 556 and 615 million tonnes of coal in the terminal year of the 12th Five-Year Plan (2012-17).

Earlier, CIL had asked the government to scale down its production target for the 2011-12 financial year to 448 million tonnes (MT), fearing it will not be able to make up for the slippage in output in the first half of the fiscal.

The state-run company missed its April-September target by about 20 million tonnes, recording an output of 176 million tonnes against the target of 196 million tonnes, which it has blamed on inclement weather, including heavy rains in August-September that affected production in almost all its collieries.

CIL had lowered its production target to 440.20 million tonnes from 460.50 million tonnes last fiscal as well. However, CIL, which accounts for 80% of domestic coal production in the country, missed its revised production target last fiscal too, recording an output of just 431 million tonnes.
Agencies

The Ministry of Coal will “… Impress upon the provisional government/regional government to allocate blocks under their special status (most favoured nation type) to Indian government coal companies…,” the Coal Ministry has said.

Seeking the allocation of coal blocks on a “nomination basis”, an official document of the ministry has said it will be sending a team from the Coal Ministry and CIL to Indonesia to pursue the matter.
The decision to approach the Indonesian government was taken in a meeting of an India-Indonesia Joint Working Group on Coal on November 24 and 25.

Seeking the allocation of large greenfield (new) coal concessions on a nomination basis, the ministry will also impress upon the Indonesian government the need for expeditious environmental and forest clearances, besides smooth land acquisition.

Coal India (CIL), which accounts for 81% of domestic coal production, recently said that it has zeroed in on two overseas coal assets, including one in Indonesia, for acquisition and expects to begin a serious dialogue with the owners soon.

The PSU has put together a war-chest of Rs 6,000 crore for acquisition of the mines. At present, the country is faced with a coal demand-supply shortfall of 142 million tonnes, with domestic output likely to amount to 554 MT in the current fiscal.
Agencies

The Coal Ministry panel had in May cancelled the allocation of 14 coal blocks and one lignite block to companies, including NTPC and DVC, over their failure to develop them within the stipulated time frame. In August, Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde had written to Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal asking for a review of the deallocation decision. The Power Ministry had also written to the Coal Ministry seeking a review of the decision to de-allocate blocks awarded to DVC.

Earlier, Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda had met Jaiswal, seeking the reversal of the ministry’s decision to cancel allotment of a coal block to a state-run power utility. The Coal Ministry panel was formed early this year to take a call on captive coal blocks lying idle with several firms.

The panel had de-allocated five blocks — Chatti Bariatu, Chatti Bariatu (S), Kerandari, Brahmani and Chichiro Patsimal — that were awarded to state-run power producer NTPC. The government had also cancelled the licence for the Saharpur Jamarpani coal block in Jharkhand, which was allocated to DVC in 2007. The Banhardih mine in Jharkhand, which was allocated to JSEB in 2006, was also taken away by the Coal Ministry, as implementation of all milestones under the project were pending.
Agencies

In a filing with the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the company said “Jha, director [technical], CIL has assumed the additional charge of CMD, CIL, with effect from December 1, 2011 for a period of two months or till a regular appointment is made.”

The Public Enterprises Selection Board (PSEB), which handles hiring for the public sector firms, recommended Bharat Coking Coal chief Tapas Lahiri as the first contender and Western Coalfields Head DC Garg as the second contender for the top post in CIL.

The Coal Ministry had requested PSEB to change the selection panel into a search panel to choose the person to head the coal firm.
Agencies

NTPC previously invited bids by May 26 for a single contract to supply 4 million tons of coal needed at 14 of its power plants. This time, orders may be awarded to as many as five suppliers, Choudhury said.

Coal production growth in India has slowed after delays in environmental approvals and land acquisition for mines. The commodity is used to fire more than half of the electricity generation capacity in Asia’s second-biggest energy consumer. State-run NTPC is going ahead with coal imports although the rupee has fallen, the chairman said. The Indian currency declined 6.7 percent this month 52.21 per dollar, the most since March 1992.

“If the rupee goes to 100 per dollar, then it becomes a bigger deal, but right now there’s been no hue and cry from our buyers,” Choudhury said. The current bidding opened on Nov. 21 and will close on Dec. 23, according to documents posted on NTPC’s tenders website.
Agencies

 “As against the monthly target of 40.60 million tonne in September, 2011 and 47.08 million tonne in October, 2011, the coal production was 29.84 million tonne ans 39.89 million tonne. There was, therefore, a shortfall of 10.76 million tonne during September, 2011 and 7.19 million tonne during October,” Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal said in a reply to the Lok Sabha.

The minister said excessive rains in September, one day strike by Coal India’s (CIL’s) workers union, festivals in October and law and order problems caused the shortfall. “The main reasons for shortfall in production are excessive rainfall in the month of September and one day nationwide bandh called by coal workers union in demand of additional annual bonus. Law and order problem mainly in Jharkhand and Orissa,” the minister said.

Jaiswal, however, stated that efforts were being made to make up the shortfall during the remaining months of the year. Dispatches to thermal power plants in the last two months by CIL, which accounts for 80% of the domestic coal production, have declined, he said.

“During September and October, 2011, dispatches of coal and products by CIL, to thermal power plants declined by 9% from 48.05 million tonne during the corresponding period last year to 43.60 million tonne (provisional),” he said.
Agencies

Several parts of the country were reeling under severe power crisis during the last two months due to an acute coal shortage. Patil said coal companies have been advised to ensure priority movement of the fuel to power stations.

“Coal India Ltd (CIL) has been advised to improve the loading of coal to the power utilities on priority basis, the average rail-loading from CIL sources had increased to about 181 rakes per day, out of which on an average 143.6 rakes were dispatched to the power sector,” Patil said.

The average rail loading during September and October was 146 rakes and 158 rakes a day, respectively. Besides, CIL offered additional 5.06 million tonne to power utilities in October, he said. “Ministry of Coal decided in consultation with Ministry of Power that CIL would allocate the monthly coal quantity offered under e-auction by various subsidiaries to the power utilities,” Patil said.

The Coal Ministry earlier has attributed the shortage of coal to a number of factors, including lower production by Coal India on account of heavy rains in August-September and a strike at Singareni Collieries Company (SCCL), which has been called off.
Agencies

GVK’s vice chairman, GV Sanjay Reddy, told Reuters on Wednesday he sees stronger demand emerging in Asia and in India for imported thermal coal from Australia, heightened by the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, which highlighted the continuing need for coal-fired power generation.

“Interest in our coal is running very strong and will keep us focused on the project we already have,” Reddy said. GVK Power & Infrastructure was one of several India-focused companies rumoured to be interested in acquiring New Hope Coal, the $5 billion Australian coal miner that has put itself up for auction.

Others said to be interested include India-focused British miner Vedanta Resources, Tata Group, Aditya Birla Group and JSW Steel, China’s Yanzhou Coal Mining Co and London-listed Xstrata.

“Given the current market environment, our first focus is to get this project off the ground,” Reddy said. “After that we can look at possible acquisitions for the future,” he said. “Currently, there is nothing on the radar.” GVK last month announced it was acquiring a 79% stake in the Alpha and Alpha West coal mines in the Galilee Basin and will buy Kevin’s Corner coal mine and the rail and port project connecting the coal mines outright in a bid to become major world supplier of thermal coal.

At full production, the three coal projects are together expected to supply about 84 million tonne per year to the global sea-borne coal market. That figure is roughly half of what Australia, one of the world’s top suppliers of thermal coal, exports annually.

Australia is the largest supplier of thermal coal to Japan, shipping roughly five times the tonnage of that by Indonesia, the second largest. Australia is also a key supplier to South Korea, Taiwan and China. “We expect to sell around 60 million tonne into the Asian markets and 20 million tonne to India,” said Reddy, who visited Australia for the first time last year to hold talks with Hancock’s chairwoman, Gina Rheinhart, Australia’s richest woman.

Once the deal with Hancock was struck, Reddy said disccussions were underway to secure about 43 million tonne in sales from the Alpha coal mine, the first phase of the project, to coal users, some of whom have shown interest in taking stakes in the projects. GVK hopes to mine from the alpha lode about 32 million tonne of high-grade thermal coal annually. The coal is prized by coal-fired utilities in north Asia, according to Reddy.

At that rate, the mine would rank as one of the largest coal mines of its type in the world. Subsequent mining plans covered under the acquisition of the Hancock assets include the similar-sized Kevin’s Corner mine and the Alpha West deposit, seen yielding between 16 and 24 million tonne per year, Reddy said.

The Galilee Basin, a 247,000 square kilometer patch of land in remote western Queensland state, is the last undeveloped coal field in Australia. GVK’s alpha mine is expected to be the first colliery in production across the basin.
Agencies

The contract may be awarded in 12 to 14 months and is for deliveries starting in the year ending March 2015, G.A. Purushotham, Karnataka Power’s executive engineer for fuels, said by telephone from Bangalore yesterday. Initial offers must be submitted by Jan. 18 after which the company will shortlist suppliers and then seek final offers in the second part of the tender after a few months, he said.

Karnataka is seeking coal with 5,800 to 6,300 kilocalories a kilogram with total moisture and ash content as much as 20 per cent and 14 per cent respectively, and sulphur content of less than 0.8 per cent, he said. It’s the company’s biggest coal tender on record, according to Purushotham.

Newcastle coal in the seven days ended Nov. 18 fell to an average $113.60 a ton from $114.85 a week earlier, according to Petersfield, England-based IHS McCloskey. India imported about 65 million tons of thermal coal for the year ended March 2011, according to government data.

Karnataka Power operates hydroelectric, thermal and wind energy plants with a total installed capacity of 5,991 megawatts and plans to add 5,200 megawatts of coal-fired capacity, according to a company document.
Agencies