Technical bids for Ghatkuri 1 iron ore mine in Jharkhand have been opened. Steelmakers JSW, JSPL, AM/NS India and Vedanta are vying for mining rights for this block. They will be competing against MSPL, Rungta and with the state’s own public sector enterprise, Jharkhand Exploration and Mining Corporation Limited (JEMCL).
Jagannath Steel and Nirjhar Commodities (a related party of Shyam Metalics) have also placed technical bids for this block of 138.848 hectare in Noamundi, West Singhbhum district, with estimated resources of 202.397* million tonnes of an average grade of Fe 55.24*%.
The block was first tendered almost a year back in February 2022. Its auction, however, has been postponed more than once for various reasons, including forest clearance.
In the past, the Jharkhand government was forced to postpone and cancel auction of another iron ore block, after the state’ own Mineral Development Corporation decided to outbid everyone else with an initial price offer of 122%.
The MMDR Act allows the government to reserve a block for a PSU. The state can do so but requires central government approval. Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren who leads the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and Congress coalition government in the state is battling graft charges, as are some of his key bureaucrats.
Under the circumstances, reserving a block for a state PSU which requires Central government approval may not have been an easy task particularly since the Centre has in the past turned down Jharkhand’s sweeping request to reserve all operating mines set to expire. The Centre had directed the state to attempt auctioning the blocks first. (In Odisha blocks whose auctions were unsuccessful were handed over to the state mining corporation for ten years.)
Industry sources say there is little rationale in allowing a state PSU to compete in an auction, to eventually mine with a high premium cost – that would go from revenues earned by an entity of the state back to the state exchequer.
Correction: * the resources & grade mentioned were of Ghatkuri II mine which has been corrected
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