By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR/KOIRA: The Odisha Steel and Mines Department will auction as many as 8 operational mines including 2 captive and 6 merchant under Koira mining circle of Odisha’s mineral rich Sundargarh-Keonjhar belt.
In two phases, the State Government notified auction of two captive mines and six merchant mines in the mining circle and bidders are visiting the mines to assess their mineral values with eye estimation.
Sources said that out of 8 mines, one each captive mine of PK Ahuluwalia of KJS Ahluwalia Group-Kaypee Enterprises and Aryan Mining and Trading Corporation along with two each merchant mines of Rungta and Bonai Industries & Co Pvt Ltd, one merchant mine of Aryan Mining and Trading Corporation and one merchant mine of Feegrade Pvt Ltd will be auctioned.
DDM Koira Salil Behera said the total production capacity of 8 mines is about 15 MTPA. Behera informed that the State Government wants early auction of these running mines and in the next phase, six to seven new mines in the mining circle to be auctioned.
As of now, 33 of total 77 mines in KMC limits are operational and in 2019-20, they are expecting total mineral production of about 40 MTPA against the 33 MTPA achieved in 2018-19.Sources claimed that to keep these eight mines running, ownership and statutory clearances may get transferred for a period of two years.
