With the Centre having cleared the decks for auction of mining leases, 11 states have submitted a list of 79 mines, whose leases are to be offered through the competitive bidding route. The auction process is likely to begin in August this year.The list of these 79 mines was submitted to the Union Mines Ministry by the respective states earlier this month.
The Pioneer had first reported on May 26, that the Government will be putting up on offer 99 mining leases through the e-auction route. Of these as of now 76 reserves have been identified by 11 states like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Goa and Karnataka among others, whose leases would be put up on offer through the competitive bidding route. Most of these mines consist of limestone, iron ore and cement reserves.
The auctions are to be conducted by the State Governments and significantly they will have the power to reserve any number of mines for a particular end use. In other words, the states can decide that a set of mines can only be used for a specific sector.
Initially the Union Mines Ministry had released a list of 199 mines across the country, whose leases were to be auctioned, however according to highly placed sources, as of now only 99 mines are in a position to be offered for bidding.
Keen to get the auction process moving, Union Mines Secretary Anup Pujari in a recent meeting held with all representatives of mineral-rich states, is learnt to have emphasised on the urgency of initiating the auction process by the State Governments.
According to sources, he told the states’ representatives that they should not see the mining sector only from the point of view of revenue generation, rather states should approach the sector for its coordinated development and mineral conservation.
The State Governments were also requested to give the dates for starting the auctioning of identified mineral blocks. Pujari also requested the states’ representatives to give the status reports on the blocks identified for notification for auction, sources added.
In fact, to ease the process of identifying the mines whose leases are to be auctioned, the Centre has already provided 166 Geological Reports (GRs) explored by Geological Survey of India (GSI) to the states, which will assist them in further identification of blocks for auction.
The Union Mines Ministry has already notified the auction rules, according to which, the auction is to be conducted only through an online electronic auction platform by the states. The reserve price for bidding will be the minimum percentage of the value of mineral dispatched in a month.
Also the State Governments while issuing the tender notice for the auction process, will have to mention in detail the estimated mineral content available in the mines on offer.The successful bidders will have to make an upfront payment upon getting the mining lease. The upfront payment will be an amount equal to 0.50 per cent of the total value of the estimated resources (present in the mine).