PANAJI
The process of e-auction of four mining blocks by the State government’s department of Geology and Mines concluded on Wednesday with the Fomento mining group bagging the last block at Kalay in Sanguem taluka.
The Kalay block was successfully won by the Fomento Company with a bid envisaging an 86.4 percent revenue share, DGM sources said.
The process of auctioning mining blocks in the State had begun earlier this month after a long period of complete halt in all iron ore mining activity ever since the Apex Court verdict of 2018 abolishing all 88 operational leases of the State.
After much dilly-dallying and multiple review and other litigation in the Supreme Court, the State government finally began preparing to auction the blocks a few months ago.
Four mining blocks -- Bicholim Block 1, Bicholim Block 2, Monte de Shirgaon and Kalay -- were eventually put up for e-auction in early December.
Several companies participated in the process and Vedanta Resources won the first ‘Bicholim Block I’ with a bid of 63.55 percent.
The ‘Bicholim Block II’ was bagged by the Salgaocar Shipping Company of the late Anil Salgaocar group, with whopping bid of 99.25 per cent.
The third block to be auctioned -- Monte de Shirgaon -- went to Rajaram N S Bandekar & Company which won it with the highest 111.28 percent.
The last of the four blocks -- Kalay, Sanguem -- was won by the Fomento Company with its 86.40 percent bid.
With all the four blocks successfully auctioned, the State has now taken the first leap in its efforts to re-start the iron ore mining and export sector, a crucial component of its economy before the 2018 closure.
Industry sources however said the road to actual operations commencing on the ground however will be long and upwards of a year as the winning bidders will have to secure the mandatory ECs (environmental clearances) from the MoEF&CC, which is a cumbersome process.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, meanwhile, is bullish on the sector’s revival and is hoping the inflow of revenues to the exchequer will progressively grow and be a boost to the State’s development.
It will also have a ripple effect and spur ancillary economic activity which had suffered immensely for the last nearly five years, Sawant had said.
