Govt to put up 9 mineral blocks for auction soon

The Dollar Business Bureau

The government would put on auction a total of nine mineral blocks, including two from Karnataka iron ore plots, with response up to 100% bidding over reserve price.

Inaugurating an Assocham conference on 'India Mining Summit 2016' on Tuesday, Ministry of Mines Secretary Balvinder Kumar said, “A total of nine blocks will be put on auction, including two from Karnataka iron ore plots and total seven blocks, are being put up to auctions by state government of Karnataka and we expect extremely good response in these seven mineral areas."

The government will receive over Rs 25,000 crore by the way of royalties over the period of 50 years.

The bids for the first iron ore plot in Karnataka were 90% above the reserve price. For the second mine plot, the bid was almost 100% over reserve price.

Referring to the aluminium industry minimum import duty hike or minimum import price (MIP), Kumar said, "We are examining this matter in great depth and two-three rounds of discussions have taken place with different segments of aluminium industry. So, either we may go for MIP or alternatively to increase the import duty but we want to develop consensus among the different segments of aluminium industry. We are working on it and in next 15 days will take a decision on this issue.”

The government is also exploring the options of buying back shares or declaration of special dividend or both options.

The government has set up about 250 districts District Mineral Foundation (DMFs) to implement Pradhan Mantri Khanij Kshetra Kalyan Yojana (PMKKKY). These foundations have already got Rs.2800 crore.

"If we see exports, exports have increased tremendously. In 2015-16, it was 5.32 billion tonne; in this fiscal we have already bypassed that figure. Imports have also decreased sharply as against 2015-16 about seven billion tonnes and now this has reduced to 1.022 billion tonnes,” he said.

Iron ore output has increased by 32%. The overall mineral growth this year is about 10.6% during the first five months.

SBI Cap is consulting private sector participation in the exploration of 100 mineral blocks to be explored by the agencies, the notification of this process will be in 2-3 weeks time.

The government has also initiated steps to monitor illegal mining across the country through imagery via the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC).