PANAJI
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has directed the Mines department to expedite the iron ore mineral block e-auction in the State.
Nine mineral blocks have been auctioned so far during the first two rounds of e-auction held in December 2022 and April this year. On Tuesday, Sawant chaired a high-level meeting on mining in the presence of Chief Secretary Puneet Kumar Goyal, DGP Jaspal Singh, and officials from the departments of Mines, Forest, Environment and others and issued various directions with regards to mining of major and minor minerals.
“Reviewed issues related to mining of major minerals. Directed the officials of DMG, forest and environment to expedite the next round of auction of mining blocks and other pending issues,” the Chief Minister tweeted.
So far nine blocks have been auctioned - Cudnem-Cormolem mineral block, Surla Sonshi mineral block, Advalpale-Tivim mineral block, Cudnem mineral block, Tivim-Pirna mineral block, Kalay mining block in Sanguem, Bicholim-Mulgao mining block, Shirigao-Mayem mining block and Monte-de-Sirigao mining block.
Except for the Cudnem-Cormolem mineral block and Surla Sonshi mineral block won by steel giant JSW and Tivim-Pirna mineral block by Odisha-based Kai International, the other six blocks are bagged by State-based companies like Fomento Resources, Vedanta Limited, Salgaocar Shipping and NS Bandekar. The five mineral blocks sold in the second round have total iron ore reserves of 89.2 million tonnes and are valued at Rs 12,000 crore, while those in the first round are valued at Rs 43,000 crore.
Meanwhile, the Chief Minister also discussed issues related to the minor mining industry like obtaining environmental clearances, lease renewals, approval of quarry plans, issue of royalty/transit pass, fines, etc. Directions have been issued to the officials to clear pending issues in a time-bound manner.
