By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR: Wait is over. Odisha Director of Mines under the Steel and Mines Department has issued Notice Inviting Tender (NIT) for online auction of dozen over mining blocks, including 7 virgin blocks.
The 7 iron ore blocks are — Nadidih (Bico), Purheibahal, Chandiposhi, Jumka Pathriposhi, Dholtapahar, Netrabandha Pahar (West) and Gandhalpada. Similarly, 2 iron ore and manganese blocks put under the hammer are — Nadidih (Feegrade) and Teherai. Kasia mineral block having both iron ore and dolomite has also been put for the auction. The government has put Karlapat bauxite mineral block, a virgin block, for auction.
The interested bidder can purchase the tender documents till August 19, 2021 while August 24 is the last date for submission of the bid. The tender fee for all the 11 blocks is Rs 5 lakh each. Accordingly, the government has invited financial bids in digital format only and technical bids in both digital and physical format.
“In exercise of powers conferred by Section 10 (B) of Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 and in accordance with the Mineral (Auction) Rules, 2015 as amended from time to time notified thereunder, the Government of Odisha has identified 11 mineral blocks as under for electronic auction and hereby invites tenders for the purposes of grant of Mining Lease,” the directorate said. The four blocks, whose lease has already expired are Kasia Iron Ore & Dolomite Block, Nadidih Iron Ore Block (BICO), Nadidih Iron Ore & Manganese Block (FEEGRADE) and Teherai Iron ore & Manganese Block.
The Government has put only Karlapat bauxite mineral block, a virgin one, for auction along with these iron and manganese blocks. All these seven blocks are virgin areas. Bidders, who would bag these blocks, would have to develop blocks for mining, said official sources.
Interested and eligible bidders will have to register themselves on the website of MSTC Limited (https://www.mstcecommerce.com/auctionhome/mlcl/index.jsp).The interested bidder can purchase tender documents till August 19, 2021 while August 24 is last date for submission ofbid. The tender fee for 11 blocks is Rs 5 lakh each. The Government has invited financial bids in digital format only and technical bids in both in digital and physical format from eligible bidders. The bidders, who had purchased tender document for a particular mineral block, for which NIT was issued on October 18, 2019, can avail tender document of that particular mineral block without paying the tender fee.
The 6 blocks for which NIT had been issued earlier are Purheibahal Iron Ore Block, Chandiposhi Iron Ore Block, JumkaPathiriposhiPahar Iron Ore Block, Dholtapahar Iron Ore Block, NetrabandhaPahar (West) Iron Ore Block and Gandhalpada Iron Ore Block). Further, Sociedade De Fomento Industrial Private Ltd, Vishal LPG Industries and Tarama Apartment Private Ltd are debarred from participating in Nadidih Iron Ore Block (BICO), Nadidih Iron Ore and Manganese Block (FEEGRADE) and Teherai Iron Ore and Manganese Block, respectively.
The estimated iron ore reserve in these blocks is 574 million tones located at Pureibahal (38.30 Million Tonnes), Chandiposhi (33.73 MT), Jhumka-Pathiriposi (114 MT), Dholtapahad (23.92 MT), Netrabandha Pahar-West (17.27 MT) in Sundaragarh district; and Rengalaberha-North-East (28.87 MT), Gandhalpada (314.37 MT), Unchabali (3.6 MT) and Kalimati in Kendujhar district. While Kalimati is a manganese block (0.686 MT) and Unchabali is a mix of iron and manganese, the rest blocks are iron ore. Iron ore is the raw material for steel production.
The state auctioned all the 24 mines in FY21 whose lease got expired. As on date ,19 of the 24 auctioned mines have already started operation and production.These 24 Mines holds Iron Ore 1716.92 mt, Manganese 8.77 mt and Chrome Ore having 104.96 mt, which was worth Rs.4,87,082.55 Crore. Out of 24 Mineral Blocks, 11 are in Keonjhar, 8 in Sundargarh 03 in Jajpur and 1 in Mayurbhanj.
