By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR/JODA: Serajjudin and Co which retained the 15.5 mnt capacity Balda iron ore mine block and Debabrata Behera who bagged the Silijora-Kalimati iron ore and manganese mine have assured the Odisha Steel and Mines Department that they would be starting work soon. Serajuddin and Co had retained Balda mines in Keonjhar district committing to pay 118.05% of its sale value of ore to the Odisha government. Odisha-based miner Debabrata Behera had bagged Siljora-Kalimati iron ore and manganese block at 154%, one of the highest-quoted premium.The lease of Siljora-Kalimati iron ore and manganese block was with ML Rungta.
Tata Steel Mining Limited (TSML) has commenced operations at its Sukinda chromite mine in Odisha.Three chromite mines of TSML in Jajpur district namely, Sukinda Chromite Mine, Saruabil Chromite Mine and Kamarda Chromite Mine constitute the first commercial leases to be converted into mining leases, across India, among leases expired on March 31, 2020 and auctioned. The leases are granted for a period of 50 years. JSW Steel, which bagged 4 major blocks, had first started operations at its Nuagaon block. The Naveen Patnaik led BJD Government, is expected to get around Rs 4.87 lakh crore from these auctioned blocks.
Supreme Court advocate Manoharlal Sharma had sent a legal notice to Odisha and Union Government accusing authorities of both of being hand in glove with 10 bidders who were given mining lease of 20 blocks in the State through e-auction.With last bidding of 21 mineral blocks fetched high premium in Odisha, and a strong attempt by players who had bid unsustainably high auction premiums to include captive sales transactions in National Mineral Index(NMI), the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (FIMI), had urged the Union Mines Ministry to continue with the present system of average sale price published by Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) which it says is the most effective and transparent way to ensure price discovery and revenue to the exchequer.
