PANAJI
The Directorate of Mines and Geology (DMG) has postponed the e-auction of iron ore dumps that was to be held on Thursday and Friday. The delay is because detailed project reports (DPRs) submitted by bidders are still being checked by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI).
In a corrigendum issued on Wednesday, Director of Mines Narayan Gad said new dates for the e-auction will be announced soon. The DMG plans to auction ten low-grade iron ore dumps with an estimated 22 million metric tonnes of ore. “As the scrutiny of DPRs submitted by the bidders is still in progress by TERI, the ascending forward electronic auction scheduled on January 8 and 9 stands postponed,” Gad said.
As per the rules, each bidder must submit a DPR following TERI guidelines. The report must include details about the mining plan, safety steps, transport arrangements, waste handling, environmental protection and closure of the dump after mining.
The DMG said TERI will assess all DPRs. Any bidder whose report does not meet the required standards will be disqualified at the technical stage.
This is not the first delay in the process. In January last year, the government tried to auction 18 dumps and received more than 125 bids. However, the auction was cancelled due to technical issues, and the tender system was later revised.
Of the 26 iron ore dumps found on private land where former leaseholders did not pay conversion fees, ten dumps in Sanguem, Sattari and Dharbandora talukas have been selected for the first phase of auction.
The SC has set a yearly limit of 25 million metric tonnes for iron ore dump extraction. The government has fixed a reserve price of 22 per cent for each dump, and the auction is expected to bring in around Rs 150 crore in revenue.
