Iron ore auctions: All companies clear technical bids

Training, mock auctions for technically qualified bidders to be held on e-auction platform on Feb 26

All seven steel companies who had submitted their technical bids for the lone iron ore block offered for e-auctions have cleared the technical bidding stage.

A state-level committee here after due scrutiny of the technical bids submitted by these seven players termed them as 'technically qualified bidders' as per Section 8.1 A (c) of the tender document.

Bhushan Steel Ltd, Bhushan Power & Steel Ltd, Essar Steel Ltd, Jindal Steel & Power Ltd (JSPL), JSW Steel Ltd, Tata Steel Ltd and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL) had submitted their bids for the Ghorhaburhani-Sagasahi iron ore block having deposits of 99.5 million tonne.

Training and mock auctions for these technically qualified bidders will be conducted on the e-auction platform on February 26 between 11:30 am and 1:30 pm.

The Ghorhaburhani-Sagasahi iron ore block is at G2 exploration stage and located in Koira sector in Sundargarh district. The block has been reserved for integrated steel plant as end use and mining lease (ML) will be issued to the successful bidder.

The mineral concession area is spread over 139.16 hectares (ha) including 20.88 ha forest land, 110.69 ha government land and the balance 7.58 ha private land. Survey of the mineral block has been done by the Geological Survey of India (GSI).

The successful bidder who bags ML for the block will obtain all statutory licenses and permits needed for mining like forest clearance, wildlife clearance, environment clearance, consent to establish, permission for mine opening and consent of the gram sabhas.

In the second round of e-auctions, the qualified bidders would submit their final price offers which would be a percentage of the mineral despatched and must be greater than the floor price. The e-auction process would be annulled if none of the qualified bidders submit final price offers. The qualified bidder who submits the highest final price offer would be declared the 'preferred bidder'.

Then, the state government would issue a 'Letter of Intent' to the preferred bidder upon payment of first installment of the upfront payment. The state government and the state government would enter into a mine development cum production agreement.