Maharashtra, Karnataka set to auction 15 iron ore mines in July

New Delhi, June 24: Maharashtra and Karnataka are set to auction 15 iron ore mines, with an area of more than 790 hectares and estimated reserves of over 260 million tonne (mt), next month.

While Karnataka will put 14 mines under the hammer, Maharashtra will auction one iron ore mine, a senior government official said.

For Karnataka, the initial bid date was postponed to July 11 due to issues related to stamp duty. But now, amendment to the Stamp Duty Act is under final consideration of the state cabinet, which will clear the docks for the auction, the official added.

In the case of Maharashtra, a state government official said the initial bid date is July 29 for the Devge-Banda block in Sindhudurg district.

The officer said issues related to these mines were discussed at the meeting of Union and state mines ministers in Jaipur last month.

So far, Odisha is the only state to have auctioned an iron ore mine, which was won by the Ruias-promoted Essar Group last fiscal.

The auction will help the state government earn revenues, including royalty, DMF and NMET, of R11,328 crore over a period of 50 years.

According to government data, domestic production of iron ore was 169 mt in 2011-12 and 137 mt in 2012-13 as against consumption of 101 mt and 103 mt, respectively.

In 2015-16, the country mined about 155 mt of the ore as against 129 mt in the preceding year.

Around 106 mines containing minerals like iron ore, bauxite, limestone, gold, copper, phosphate and potash would be offered by states for auction in the second phase. It also includes leftover blocks from first phase.

In the last auction, 17 blocks could not be sold due to insufficient number of initial bids on account of factors such as quantity and grade of ore, quality of the mineralisation studies, land ownership pattern, dull market scenario and end use conditions imposed by states. PTI