The Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (FIMI), the apex representative body of miners in the country, has sought a reduction in upfront payment at the auction of coal blocks for commercial mining. Submitting its comments on a discussion paper on the maiden auction of blocks for commercial coal mining, FIMI maintained that upfront payment of 0.5% of the estimated value of the resource was "too high" and should be lowered to 0.25% of the value of the estimated reserves and equal to the estimated reserves for the life of the mine with the applicable price based on the National Coal Index, determined as per the grade of coal and not for the average grade of coal including uneconomical resources or deep-seated deposits, as stipulated in the proposed auction rules.
