The Coal Ministry Thursday formally inaugurated that sixteenth round of commercial mine auctions putting forth 25 blocks, comprising 21 fully explored and four partially explored mines.

The mines are spread across nine-coal bearing states including Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Telangana and West Bengal.

The latest round forms part of the government’s larger commercial coal mining framework that has had 147 mines auctioned till date, which are expected to cumulatively bring forth revenues of over ₹47,500 crore and entails projected capital investment of more than ₹55,000 crore across nine coal-bearing states.