Technical bids invited for the Netrabandha Pahar and Kalamang iron ore blocks have generated encouraging response from both public and private sector mining majors.
Official sources reveal that as many as 28 bidders including Tata Steel, Jindal Steel & Power ltd (JSPl), JSW Steel, Thriveni Earthmovers Private limited, Vedanta, Essel Mining & Industries ltd, Bhushan Power & Steel ltd and National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) have submitted technical bids for the two blocks.
The technical bids were opened a few days back. While as many as 16 bids were received for the Netrabandha Pahar block meant for merchant, the Kalamang block reserved for an integrated steel plant got 12 offers. Those who qualify the technical bids would be eligible for financial bidding.
The companies that submitted bids for Netrabandha Pahar include Thriveni Earthmovers Private limited, Serajuddin and Company, Shri Bajrang Power and Ispat ltd, NMDC, MSPl ltd, Maithan Ispat ltd, Feegrade & Company Pvt ltd, JSPl, Bhushan Power & Steel ltd, JSW Steel ltd, Essel Mining & Industries ltd, Vedanta ltd, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam ltd (RINl), Shri Jagannath Steels & Power ltd, Orissa Metaliks Pvt ltd and Tata Metaliks ltd.
located in Sundargarh district’s Koira sector, the Netrabandh Pahar block has geological reserves of 77.25 million tonnes, of which 61.9 MT are high grade deposits. The total concession area is spread over 139 hectares with forestland constituting 112 hectares. The onus would be on the successful bidder to obtain all regulatory clearances.
The Kalamang iron ore block got offers from Tata Steel ltd, Tata Sponge Iron ltd, Bhushan Steel ltd, JSW Steel ltd, Vedanta ltd, Rashmi Metaliks ltd, Thakur Prasad Sao and Sons ltd, JSPl, Shyam Metaliks & Energy ltd, RINl and Shri Jagannath Steels & Power ltd.
The State had also invited technical bids for the Garramura limestone block which drew a blank. Previously, two limestone blocks have gone under the hammer with Dalmia Cement and Thriven Earthmovers emerging as the preferred bidders.
Odisha was the first State to auction an iron ore block, Ghoraburhani-Sagasahi, which was bagged by Essar Steel. Essar Steel had proposed a production capacity of 7.16 MT per annum (mtpa) run of the mine product from the iron ore block. As part of the project, the steel company is also setting up a crushing and screening plant and a beneficiation plant with a capacity of 6.7 mtpa over an area of 13.16 hectares at Ghoraburhani, Sagasahi and Kalmang villages situated in Sundargarh district.
Both the blocks have been explored to the G2 level, meeting the eligibility criteria for auctions under the Mineral Auction Rules, 2015.