Leading players like Tata Steel, Jindal Stainless Ltd (JSL), Vedanta Ltd, Adani Enterprises and merchant chromite miners such as Misrilall Mines and B C Mohanty are likely to vie for the coveted Sukinda chromite mine lined up for online auction in the eastern state of Odisha.
Odisha’s steel & mines department has already issued the Notice Inviting Tender (NIT) for the Sukinda lease in Jajpur district currently under the leasehold of Tata Steel. The deadline for submission of bids is February 20.
Initially, the Sukinda chromite mine was decided to be reserved in favour of an Odisha government-controlled undertaking. Later when the Central government effected an Ordinance to the Mines and Minerals- Development & Regulation Act (MMDR) Act of 2015 and ensured deemed extension of all statutory clearances of the operative merchant mines by two years to ensure smooth conduct of online auctions and continuity in mine operations, the state government reversed its decision.
Bidding activity for the prized Sukinda chromite resource is expected to be intense, feel industry watchers.
“While Tata Steel will pull all stops to retain the Sukinda mine, players like JSL who are still buying from Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) are expected to place intense bids. Moreover, Vedanta that has recently acquired Ferro Alloys Corporation (FACOR) is also set to be an active participant. Sukinda is a deep pit mine with depths reaching up to 120 metres and can be exploited full only with underground mining with the deployment of best available technologies. Underground mining will be unfeasible for this mine”, said a mining industry source.
The other merchant owned mines of BC Mohanty and Misrilall Mines have been bagged by TS Alloys, a fully owned Tata Steel subsidiary. Both the blocks saw intense bidding till the last round of online auctions.
Meanwhile, the incumbent lessee Tata Steel has already commenced the process of alerting employees on demobilisation and uninstalling associated equipment and machinery. The validity of this mine ceases by March 31, 2020.
The Sukinda chromite mine straddles an area of 406 hectares (ha) split into mineralised area of 48 ha and non-mineralised zone of 357.16 ha. The lease has a geological resource of 95.82 million tonnes (MnT) of chromite and 10.13 mt of pyroxenite.
The mine offers some distinct advantages in terms of infrastructural connectivity. Sukinda Chromite Mine is connected with Jajpur Keonjhar (JK) Road Railway Station on the Howrah-Chennai trunk line of East Coast Railways by 52 km all weather road. The all-weather road connecting Sukinda Chromite Mine with JK Road Railway Station meets NH-200 at Mangalpur at a distance of 21 km and Express Highway No.1 connecting Daitari with Paradip at Duburi at a distance of 32 km from the mine. The nearest airport from Sukinda Chromite Mine is Bhubaneswar which is at a distance of 100 km.
A large part of the existing 406 ha lease area is covered by quarry excavations and associated mineral/overburden stacks
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