Goa defers e-auction of iron ore after slump in international prices

Panaji, Sept 5: The Goa government has put on hold the fifth e-auction of iron ore, which was scheduled to be held this week, owing to falling prices in international markets. The e-auction has been postponed,itmaybeheldsometime next week, state mines and geology department director Prasanna Acharya said. "The government will have to decide the date," he added.

"Looking at international prices of the ore, we decided to postpone the e-auction. The inter national market does not look promising at this point of time," he said.

CM Manohar Parrikar, who is currently out of station, will retur n on September 9 and only after that the call on the next date of e-auc- tion will be taken, he said.

Around2.18milliontonneof ore was supposed to be put for eauctioning by the state government, which has already auc- tioned in four different phases and earned R583 crore revenue in the form of sale proceeds, besides R62.2 crore as value added tax, royalty, transport cess and processing fee.

The e-auction is being held under the supervision of a monitoring committee appointed by the Supreme Court. Total 15 million metric tonne of ore lying at Mormugao Port Trust, jetties and mining leases is supposed to be sold through auctioning.

The first e-auctioning was held on February 17 this year with 5.8 lakh tonne of the ore fetching R102 crore, followed by 10.75 lakh e-auctioned on March 5, collecting R167 crore.

The third e-auction was held on May 12, wherein 5.53 lakh tonne was sold for R77 crore, and the fourth e-auction was held for three days on August 19, 20 and 21 when 19.36 lakh tonne was sold, earning R237 crore for the state. PTI