Mines ministry worried over slow progress of auctioned blocks

Union mines ministry ims to auction at least 30 more blocks by the close of this financial year

The Union mines ministry has expressed displeasure over the unimpressive progress of mineral blocks auctioned by states. Post auctions, little has been done to secure clearances to enable commencement of mining from such blocks.

Balvinder Kumar, Union mines secretary has asked the concerned states to take stock of the issues concerning the auctioned blocks with the successful bidders. He has also suggested that the state governments should invite the bidders for review meetings so as to know the exact status of the necessary clearances and discuss hurdles, if any with respect to the mineral blocks.

So far, seven mineral blocks have gone under the hammer in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha. 

The mines ministry aims to auction at least 30 more blocks by the close of this financial year.

To expedite clearances for the auctioned blocks, the mines ministry has constituted the Post Auction Mining Clearances & Approvals Facilitator (PAMCAF). The body has been formed to monitor online clearances and approvals of successful bidders till the blocks reach operationalisation stage and mining begins.

In case of Odisha, the state government has issued the Letter of Intent (LoI) to Essar Steel for developing the Ghoraburhani-Sagasahi iron ore block with 99.54 million tonne (mt) deposits. The bidder has applied for environment and forestry clearance. The draft mining plan has been submitted to Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM). 

The process for land acquisition for this block has taken off by state owned agency Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco).

Chhattisgarh has successfully auctioned three mineral blocks and offered LoIs for all three. The Andhra Pradesh government has issued LoI after receipt of the first tranche of upfront payment in respect of the Gudipadu limestone block.