Bhubaneswar, July 7: After successful auction of three iron ore blocks, the state government is gearing up to put five more blocks to auction in October this year.
“We have plans to put four-five more iron ore blocks to auction this October. The process in this regard has already begun,” Steel and Mines Minister Prafulla Kumar Mallick told Orissa POST Friday.
The Geological Survey of India (GSI) had taken up G2 and G3 stage exploration in several mineral blocks in the state during 2016-17 fiscal to help the government take up the auction of mines. The minister said the mines that reach these stages will be put to auction and the government is hopeful that at least five iron blocks will be readied by October for their online auction.
While advanced exploration of some of the iron ore blocks have been completed, the state government awaits report on exploration from the Mineral Exploration Corporation Ltd (MECL), sources said.
The state government has so far auctioned five mineral blocks — including three iron ore blocks bagged by Essar Steel, Bhushan Steel Ltd and Bhushan Power Ltd.
The state government had earlier decided that the auction process will be initiated for 14 more mineral blocks in 2017-18 fiscal.
The Directorate of Geology of the state government and the GSI had conducted joint surveys in these blocks in 2016-17 fiscal to take exploration work to G2 level and initiate auction process during the current fiscal.
Meanwhile, the state government also has plans for introduction of Mining Surveillance System (MSS) for mineral blocks to expedite the auction process. PNN
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