PANAJI
Close to 30 companies, most of them based outside Goa have shown interest in the three iron ore mineral blocks- Honda (Block X) in North and Curpem-Sulcorna (Block XI) and Codli (Block XII) in South- which are listed for e-auction in the third phase.
On Tuesday, Directorate of Mines and Geology held a pre-bid meeting with the interested bidders to answer their queries. The meeting was attended by the representatives of Dilip Buildcon, JSW, Arcelor Mittal, MSPL, Amit Earthmovers, Vedanta among others.
Director Mines Narayan Gad said that a pre bid meeting was held to address their queries or concerns with regards to the mineral blocks.
He said so far total nine mineral blocks have been auctioned and one, owned by Vedanta at Bicholim has commenced operation.
"Public Hearing with regards to two mineral blocks is scheduled this month and we expect ECs for three more blocks, soon," Gad said.
As per the tender document, the Codli mineral block at Dharbandora, earlier owned by M/s Vedanta Limited and M/s Sociedade Timblo Irmaos Limited, is the largest mineral block with an total area of 377.08 hectares.
A total of 33.98 ha of area is mineralised while 343.10 ha is a non mineralised. The mine has got around 48.49 million metric tons of ore reserve and another 2.68 million metric tons of dump.
The Honda Mineral block in Sattari, belonging to erstwhile leaseholder M/s Chowgule And Company Pvt Ltd is spread across a total area of 61.73 ha of which the mineralised area is around 13.39 ha while 48.32 ha is a non-mineralised area.
The block has around 5.62 million metric tons of ore including fines and lumps. The block has also got an estimated 45,00,00 metric tons of ore in form of dumps.
The Curpem-Sulcorna mineral block in Sangume-Quepem taluka is spread at an area of 87.64 ha area of which the mineralised area is 14.00 ha while 73.63 ha is non mineralised. The mine, having an estimated 9.79 million metric tons of iron ore reserve, was earlier owned by M/s Sesa Resources Limited. The block also has 1,56,728 metric tonnes of ore in form of dumps.
