Bhubaneswar: Beating all competitors, Serajuddin & Co retained Balda iron ore block in Keonjhar district at an auction that went past midnight (2.41 am) Tuesday.
The company retained the block by committing 118.05 per cent of the sale value of ores to the state government. By bagging the block, the company commits to pay Rs 188.05 on sale of ores for every Rs 100 apart from contribution to the district mineral foundation (DMF) fund and other taxes. The base price for the block was fixed at 96.75 per cent, sources said.
Of the 13 technically qualified bidders, Serajuddin & Co, ArcelorMittal India Pvt Ltd, JSW Steel, Adani Enterprises and Rungta Mines were in the final stage.
One of India’s largest iron ore mines, Balda has an estimated ore reserve of 200.11 million tonne. The mine has a capacity to produce 15.5 million tonnes of iron ores per annum. The total area of the block is 335.594 ha out of which 233.985 ha were identified as mineralised area while remaining 101.609 ha are non-mineral area.
Aggressive bidding went on for Ganua iron ore block in Sundargarh district. The bidding started Tuesday afternoon and is likely to continue till late in night. Out of 11 technically qualified bidders, Kamaljeet Singh Ahluwalia, Rungta Mines, Shyam Steel Industries, Amalgam Steel & Power Ltd and JSW Steel are in the race for the iron ore block.
Ganua iron ore block is one of the blocks reserved for specified end use for sponge iron, steel or pellet plants. In operational for more than 50 years, its lease period will end March 31. Pawan Kumar Ahluwalia is holding the lease of mines now.
So far three mineral blocks have been auctioned. JSW Steel has bagged two mines — Nuagaon and Narayanposhi — with a total reserve of 980 million tones while ArcelorMittal has won the third iron ore block.
The final stage of auction for Jilling-Langalota iron ore block in Kenojhar will be held Wednesday. Adani Enterprises has made the highest initial price offer of 80.70 per cent while Serajuddin, JSW Steel, Rungta and Aditya Birla’s Essel mining were among the contenders. As many as 19 blocks have been put on the block.
