Goa to e-auction half a million tonnes of iron ore on Feb 17

Base price for auction to be fixed on or before February 16

The much-awaited first e-auction for Goa’s iron ore would be held next Monday. The directorate of mines and geology (DMG), government of Goa, announced the auction for a little over half a million tonnes (569,496 tonnes) of iron ore with Fe (iron) content between 43.88 per cent and 58 per cent.

According to the DMG, fines constitute 85 per cent of the total auction material while 15 per cent constitute the lumps.

In November 2013, the Supreme Court had ordered the e-auction of 11 million tonnes of iron ore at various jetties and ports in Goa.

“The base price shall be fixed on or before February 16 and communicated to MSTC. The base price shall be visible to registered bidders at the commencement of e-auction,” Prasanna A Acharya, director of mines and geology, Goa stated.

The bidding would be held in two sessions. During the morning session, lots of less than 10,000 tonnes would be put to auction and in the afternoon session, lots of more than 10,000 tonnes would be auctioned.

The DMG said inspection and sampling of lots shall be permitted upon request from registered bidders by email. The inspections could be held till Friday, the notification added.

Vagus Jetty is the prime location where majority of the material is kept. From Vagus, an estimated 140,000 tonnes would be coming to auction while from Mormugao Port Trust, another 109,090 tonnes are expected to enter the auctions. Nearly 0.225 million tonnes of material is coming from the three Sesa companies (Sesa, Sesa Mining Corp Ltd and Sesa Sterlite Ltd), while VMS cargoes account for 143,846 tonnes.

Meanwhile, prospective bidders are upset and expressing their concerns regarding the uniformity of the quality of the stacked ore. According to them, a stack of ore displaying a 60 Fe grade might not have the same quality. Their doubts are based on the fact that no proper analysis or certification of the ore has been undertaken. “Who are the approved recognised analysers sampling the ore?” they said.

According to bidders, the e-auctioning in Goa would be based on the Karnataka model, wherein ore of various grades had caused problems to the end users.

There are other concerns as well in regards to the last minute entry of a bidder and the time allowed to pick up the cargoes after the procedure is completed.

“Overall, the auction is the first step towards reopening Goa and sooner or later, we would also witness the mining operations to resume in the state,” said Prakash Duvvuri, head, research, OreTeam, a Delhi-based iron ore research firm.