Odisha government to announce auction for 10 mines

Bhubaneswar: Odisha government by November end will issue the notification for at least 10 mines, except the two iron ore mines at Khandadhar and Mankadmocha in the state, for auction.

"In the first phase we will auction 10 mines, notification of which will be out by the end of November. Subsequently, transaction advisor SBI Capital Markets Limited will begin the tender process and we'll complete the auctions by December," Odisha steel and mines minister Prafulla Mallick said.

Mallick, said that though it was earlier planned to put 12 mines for auction, later the iron ore mines at Khandadhar and Mankadmocha in Sundergarh and Keonjhar districts, respectively were excluded from the list as the Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) survey and other ancillary processes has not completed so far.

Meanwhile, the state government has constituted a committee under Development Commissioner U N Behera to smoothen the auction process. The committee has been guiding the government in fixing base price for auction of specific mines for auction, prepare tender papers and identify reserves to be put for open bidding, officials said.

(with inputs from various sources)