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Bhubaneswar: The state government will auction seven of its mines by August and seek simplification of auction process at the mines ministers’ meeting to be held at Jaipur in Rajasthan, May 27.
“The seven mines include two iron ore, three lime stone mine, one manganese and a bauxite mine in Koraput district,’’ mines minister Prafulla Mallik told newsmen at Secretariat here Tuesday.
The mines are expected to be put to auction after the G-2 level survey and DGPS survey of the mines, Mallik said.
The minister said Orissa is the first state in the country to auction a mine as per the new MMDR (Mines and Mineral Development Regulations) Act.
The Ghoraburahani-Sagasahi Iron ore mines of Sundargarh district was auctioned as per the new MMDR Act.
The mines ministers’ meeting which is scheduled to take place at Jaipur May 27 will focus on mining and auction process, Mallick said. He along with mines secretary will attend the meeting.
“As we have plans to auction more mines in the coming days through e-auctioning under the provisions of new MMDR Act 2015, we will urge the Centre to take required steps to simplify auction procedure to help us expedite the process,” Mallik said. The minister said the state government will raise matters to expedite environmental clearance to mines in the state at the meeting.
According to sources, setting up of district mineral foundation (DMF), mineral rules, curbing illegal mining and enhancement of penal provisions are among the issues enlisted in the in the agenda of the high-level meeting for discussion. The status of collection of the money accrued in the DMF by the state government and its utilisation would also be discussed.
Mallik further said Orissa is the first state in the country to create DMF and to collect and hand over `500 crore to collectors of mine-bearing districts for development.
Vedanta is likely to participate in the bidding process when the bauxite mine goes under the hammer to feed its one-million-tonne refinery plant located at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district.
Notably, Vedanta’s refinery and smelter plants are running at 50 per cent capacity due to lack of raw material, said sources. Essar Steel bagged the first iron ore block offered for e-auction in March this year, upstaging strong contenders like Tata Steel, Jindal Steel & Power Ltd (JSPL) and JSW Steel.
Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Orissa have put up six major mineral blocks on e-auction. The identification of major mineral blocks and their auction preparedness will be discussed at the meeting, said the agenda.
