With completion of one year since the new MMDR Act enforced on January 12, 2015, the Union Ministry of Mines has asked the State Government to put more mineral blocks on auction route as per the Act.
Union Mines Secretary Balvinder Kumar in a letter to the State Government has observed that though the Odisha Government promised to put 12 mineral blocks in the first phase of e-auction, it has notified for one block only.
The Government recently notified for the Ghoraburanhani-Sagarsahi East iron ore bloci in Koira circle of Sundargarh district with a reserve of around 116 million tones spread over 2.435 square km.
Kumar during his recent visit to the State had advised the Chief Secretary and senior officials to expedite the process of auction of mineral blocks.
However, the Government is taking very cautious steps in view of sluggish market conditions and declining trend in iron ore prices in both domestic and international market, said official sources.
Though the Government wanted to set two mineral blocks for auction, MoM has only cleared the Ghoraburahani-Sagasahi East mine for auction and asked the Government to upgrade exploration of the Jhumka-Pathirpose iron ore block, which covers 3.10 sq km with a reserve of 30 million tonnes.
The Ministry wanted that the second block be upgraded from G3 to G2 level for realisation of fair value.
In the letter, Kumar has also urged the State Government to expedite the auction of remaining 10 mineral blocks during the ongoing first phase.
He advised the Government to identify more blocks from the exploration reports given by the Geological Survey of India (GSI) and Mineral Exploration Corporation limited (MECl) for auction in the second phase.