Panjim: The state’s first auction of iron ore mining leases has resulted in 28 bids received from ten companies for the four mining blocks put on sale. The Directorate of Mines and Geology (DMG) on Tuesday informed that of the four blocks being auctioned, Block I – Bicholim mineral block has received five bids, while Block II – Sirigão-Mayem mineral block has received seven bids. Block III – Monte De Sirigão block has received ten bids and Block IV – Kalay mineral block has received six bids in all.

 

The technical evaluation of the bids was done by the DMG during the day with documents submitted by the bidders online and offline tallied in the presence of the bidders. The bids will now undergo a technical qualification process till December 13. On December 14, qualified bidders will be declared by the DMG. Following this, the initial price offer by each of the qualified bidder will be opened. “Only the top five bidders will qualify for e-auctioning. The e-auctioning process will commence on December 14 for individual blocks and will be completed by December 21,” said DMG director Suresh Shanbhogue. He added that the entire e-auctioning process is being managed through the Metal Scrap Trade Corporation (MSTC) Limited platform.

 

Meanwhile, the timeline of the auction process previously disclosed by the DMG reveals that the presently ongoing round – phase one of the auction process – will come to an absolute end only after the state government issues letters of intent (LOI) to the successful bidders.

 

Phase two of the process for granting mining leases to the bidders is likely to take about three years. The various stages in phase two include payment of 20% of the upfront fee by the bidder, signing of the mining production agreement with the state government, payment of the third and final instalment of the upfront fee and execution of the mining lease deed by the state. The four mining blocks, put up for auction, have approximately over 137 million tonnes of ore reserve.

 

The state has estimated iron ore resources at the Monte-de-Sirigão mineral block at over 9 million tonnes, at Sirigão-Mayem mining block at over 23 million tonnes, at Kalay mineral block at over 20 million tonnes and at Bicholim mineral block at over 85 million tonnes. The ore quality in the block’s ranges between an average of 55-58% of Fe content. For all the blocks, the bidders will have to take fresh forest clearance, environment clearance, approval of mining plan from the India Bureau of Mines, gram sabha consent, consent to operate from the pollution control board and other statutory clearances under the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957.