NEW DELHI -(Dow Jones)- State-run Coal India Ltd. (533278.BY) plans to seek bids from Indian and overseas companies from Monday to explore its mines in Mozambique, a senior executive said Friday.

The executive, who didn't wish to be named, said it expects to begin exploration in June and start producing coal from the mines in 2015.

The Mozambique mines have total reserves of 1.0 billion metric tons of coal, he said. Initially, the company plans to produce 2.0 million tons a year which will be gradually scaled up to 20 million tons a year, he added.

-By Saurabh Chaturvedi, Dow Jones Newswires; 91-11-4356-3358; prasenjit.bhattacharya@dowjones.com