Govt invites bids from consultancy firms for BGML sale

Government has invited bids from consultancy firms to be roped in as "service provider" for the proposed sale of Bharat Gold Mines (BGML) through competitive bidding route.

"BGML intends to offer for sale the assets of the company like land, buildings, gold ore, reserves/resources, tailing dumps, plants and machineries, equipment etc located in Kolar Gold Fields, Karnataka; Bisnatham Mine and Chitargunta Mines in Chittur District and Ramagri Mines in Ananthapur District of Andhra Pradesh, through global competitive bidding route," the Mines Ministry said in its website.

"BGML intends to select and appoint a service provider for this purpose," it said, inviting bids from merchant and investment banks and consultancy firms.

The role of the service provider would be to update the existing documents prepared in 2008 titled "Request for Proposal" and "Memorandum of Information" and assist in determining the Reserve Price for the assets put on block.

It would further assist in selection of the successful bidder for the assets through global bid process including in holding pre-bid meeting, opening and evaluating bids and advise on selection of the successful bidder.

"The service provider will eventually assist in finalising and executing an Agreement for transfer of the assets to the successful bidder," it said.

Interested parties have been asked to submit their bids to the company by October 9.

Mining at Kolar Gold Field has operated for over 120 years and produced approximately 25M ounces of gold.

However, it became uneconomical in the late 1990's due to poor management, exploration, underinvestment, leading to the abandonment of mining operations in 2001.