New Delhi, June 14 : Union Minister of Coal and Mines G. Kishan Reddy will launch the 10th round of commercial coal block auctions next week, an official said on Friday.

During the 10th round of auction, about 62 blocks are likely to be offered without end-user restrictions.

Coal from these commercial blocks is permitted to be sold by the producer in the free market.

The commercial coal block auction was first launched by the government in June 2020.

Since then, the Ministry of Coal has, in the course of 9 rounds, successfully auctioned 107 coal blocks with 256 million tonnes (MT) peak rated capacity.

So far, 11 commercial coal blocks have been operationalised.

Last year, 17.5 MT coal was produced from commercial blocks.

The Ministry of Coal has developed a coal block portal on PM Gatishakti National Master Plan, to facilitate proper visibility of geographical features for bidders.

/IANS