New Delhi, March 27 -- The Centre has launched the 12th round of commercial coal mines auction offering 25 mines across seven states.

Chhattisgarh has the highest number of mines offered in this round -- seven -- followed by five mines in Jharkhand, four in Madhya Pradesh, three in Maharashtra, and two each in Odisha, Rajasthan and West Bengal. Out of the 25 mines on offer, 12 are partially explored while 13 are fully explored.

Along with these another three mines, which were originally offered in the previous rounds, but failed to find buyers have also been put on the block.

Addressing the launch event for the 12th round, union minister for coal and mines, G. Kishan Reddy said: "So far 125 coal mines have been successfully auctioned i...