Bhushan Power & Steel wins Netrabandha Pahar iron ore block

BPSL won the block with a quote to share 87.15% of the revenue from mining operations with Odisha

Bhushan Power & Steel (BPSL) has emerged as the preferred bidder for the Netrabandha Pahar iron ore block in Odisha after 17 hours of intense bidding that ended on the wee hours of Saturday at 3:56 am. BPSL won the block with a quote to share 87.15% of the revenue from mining operations with the state government.

BPSL is the second Bhushan Group firm to have bagged an iron ore block through auctions in Odisha. On Friday, Bhushan Steel Ltd won the Kalamang iron ore block reserved for an integrated steel plant, outbidding strong contenders like Tata Steel, Jindal Steel & Power Ltd (JSPL), JSW Steel and others.

For the Netrabandha Pahar block meant for merchant mining, 16 bidders were in the fray initially. The companies who had submitted technical bids for Netrabandha Pahar are Serajuddin and Company, Shri Bajrang Power and Ispat Ltd, NMDC, MSPL Ltd, Maithan Ispat Ltd, Feegrade & Company Pvt Ltd, JSPL, Bhushan Power & Steel Ltd, JSW Steel Ltd, Essel Mining & Industries Ltd, Vedanta Ltd, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL), Shri Jagannath Steels & Power Ltd, Orissa Metaliks Pvt Ltd and Tata Metaliks Ltd. Later, the list narrowed to seven companies for the financial bids.

The Netrabandha Pahar block located in Sundargarh’s Koira sector has geological reserves of 77.25 million tonnes of which 61.9 million tonnes are high grade deposits. The total concession area is spread over 139 hectares with forest land making up 112 hectares. The onus would be on the successful bidder to obtain all regulatory clearances.

Odisha was also the first state to auction an iron ore block — the Ghoraburhani-Sagasahi block bagged by Essar Steel. Essar Steel has proposed a production capacity of 7.16 million tonne per annum (mtpa) run of the mine product from the iron ore block. As part of the project, the steel company is also setting up a crushing & screening plant and a beneficiation plant with a capacity of 6.7 mtpa over an area of 139.16 hectares (ha) at Ghoraburhani, Sagasahi and Kalmang villages situated in Sundargarh district.