KOLKATA - Nine private players are in the race for extracting coal from 18 abandoned underground mines belonging to three subsidiaries of the state-run Coal India Ltd (CIL), according to a top official.

CIL had received expressions of interest from 17 companies for developing the mines, which have a total reserve of around 1,647 million tonnes. Later, the country’s largest coal miner shortlisted 10 parties.

“Nine of them took part in the pre-notification tender meeting,” CIL chairman Partha Bhattacharyya told reporters here Tuesday after the company’s annual general meeting.

Six of the mines belong to the Eastern Coalfields Ltd, eight are owned by Bharat Coking Coal Ltd and the remaining four are properties of Central Coalfields Ltd.

The private players that would enter into joint venture (JV) with CIL or its subsidiaries would have access to only 50 percent of the total production.

For each mine, only one party would be finally selected through bidding. If a single party is selected for more than one mine, all such mines would be the subject of a single JV company with that party.

Global tenders will be floated by August, and the bids will be in place by December or January next.

“The joint ventures will be finalised by mid next year,” Bhattacharyya said.

He added that MIT would take at least three-and-a-half-year for CIL to start mining at the two virgin coal blocks it bagged in the Tete province of Mozambique.

“After the initial formalities, we have to appoint an agency for exploration. Then two years are needed for finalising the Detailed Project Report (DPR),” he said.

A senior level government delegation will visit the African nation next month to look into the formalities.

“The coal from these blocks will be imported to India to substantially augment the coal availability in the country,” Bhattacharyya added.

He said the forward e-auction will begin in August. “Only the genuine consumers can avail of it.”

“Ten percent of CIL’s total coal production will be sold through forward e-auction and spot e-auction,” Bhattacharyya said.

As per the audited accounts, CIL’s profit after tax stood at Rs.2078.69 crore in 2008-09.

The company, which produced 403.73 million tonnes of coal last fiscal, has targeted a growth of 7.7 percent to reach 435 million tonnes in 2009-10.