By Anurjay Dhal
BHUBANESWAR: The bidding for Guali Iron Ore Block, presently held by Jharkhand based RP Sao & Sons under Joda mining circle of Odisha’s mineral rich Keonjhar district was on Wednesday witnessed hectic participation of Big Steel makers and Merchant miners, resulting the premium, which was opened at 105 % by the Congress leader Naveen Jindal owned Jindal Steel and Power Ltd early in the morning, reached 119 & till last reports came and bidding till continuing.
Besides, the present lease holder RP Sao & Sons, Naveen Jindal’s JSPL, Sajjan Jindal owned JSW, SR-ML Rungta owned RML Group, Laxmi Mittal led Arcellor-Mittal , small players like Aappoloft and Sarada Energy are in the race for the Block. The block, which was earlier reserved for State PSU, OMECL, put for auction in view of the MMDR Act of 2015 and Minerals(Laws) Amendments Bill-2020, which got passed in both Houses of Parliament few days back.
Guali mining lease area over 365.026 hectares and has a reserve of 183 million tonne is located in five villages namely Guali, Panduliposi, Rugudihi, Laidapada and Topadihi in P.S/Tehsil Barbil and district Keonjhar.
Earlier on Tuesday, Tata Steel’s subsidiary, TS Alloys bagged Sukinda Chrome Block in State’s Jajpur. TS Alloys won the mines by committing to pay 93.7 per cent of the average sale price to the Odisha government, said sources.
Several companies including Rungta, MSPL and Vedanta Limited were in the race to bag the Sukinda chrome mines located in Jajpur district but TS Alloys emerged as preferred bidder.
This is the third lease bagged by the steelmaker. TS Alloys had got Saruabil chrome and Kamarda deposits in Odisha.The current leases come to an end on March 31, 2020 along with Sukinda chrome mine, which was with Tata Steel.
Earlier, the State Government has reserved Tata Steel’s Sukinda chromite mine and RP Sao’s iron ore mine for OMECL and it had also written to the Centre for approval but the state’s decision was believed to have had stemmed from the recent ordinance by the Narendra Modi government and an unwillingness to delay the resumption of any working mine lapsing in less than three months.
Centre’s 10th January ordinance amending the Mines and Mineral Development and Regulation Act debarred Odisha to handover the mines to OMECL. The ordinance extends a seamless transfer of environment and other statutory clearances for a period of two years to the one emerging as the highest bidder.
Green clearances granted under the Forest (Conservation) Act and the Environmental Protection Act (and not under the MMDR Act) had until now been considered coterminus with a lease — a view that the Supreme Court had also upheld in the past. “The ordinance however, makes no provision for a lease reserved for a state PSU despite the fact that the Centre was well aware of our decision to reserve these deposits,”
