The Chhattisgarh Government on Tuesday successfully auctioned its third limestone block, Kesla-II, through a bidding process, officials informed.
The bidding, which began at 11:00 am on Monday went on for a record 23 hours, and the highest bid received was 96.15% of Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) prices, they informed.
It is 20 times more than the reserve price. Total revenue that the State would receive from this auction has surpassed that of all previous non-coal mineral blocks at Rs11,893 cr over the life of mine. Kesla-II block is situated in the Tilda tehsil of Raipur district and covers over 357 ha in area with an average grade of 43% CaO.
The block is located at a convenient distance of 40 km from Raipur. The tender was floated on February 21, 2017 and the last date of submitting bids was April, 7, 2017.
The Reserve Price of Kesla-II was fixed at 5% of IBM prices and the Floor Price was 21% of IBM prices. This figure is more than the amount of Rs8,215.8 crore raised by the auction of Ghoraburhani-Sagashi iron ore block in Odisha, the highest revenue earner till date.Over Rs9,967 crore would accrue to the Government as bid-revenue and over Rs1,900 crore through Royalty, DMF and NMET. Over 600 bids have been received from the parties interested in winning the Mining lease for the Kesla-II block.
The Directorate of Geology and Mining, Chhattisgarh has broken the national record of obtaining the highest bid for any limestone block, previously, held by Rajasthan at 67.94% of IBM prices for its limestone block of Nagaur District.
Mining, Secretary Subodh Kumar Singh said that the bids were invited on the condition that it would be used for Clinker / Cement plants. In the experience of Government of Chhattisgarh, value addition of mineral resources is the right way forward for the socio-economic development of the nation, he said
Notably, Chhattisgarh had also earned the distinction of conducting the first ever successful non-coal mineral auction in India in February, 2016 with the auction of Karhi Chandi limestone block.
It is also the first and only state in India to successfully auction a Gold mine. Chhattisgarh’s achievements in the first round of auctions were covered by International news agencies. In the first phase, Chhattisgarh auctioned three mines from which it is expected to receive more than Rs4,800 crore over the lease period.
To bring in transparency in the allocation process, the MMDR (Amendment) Act, 2015 stipulated auction as the mechanism of allocation.
Since then, over 20 blocks have been successfully auctioned across various states.
Officials of the Directorate of Geology and Mines, including Reena Babasaheb Kangale, who worked hard towards the realisation of this milestone, officials informed.