Odisha says 'no' to separate e-auctions of minerals

Captive consumption, exports to be out of auction ambit

The state steel & mines department has scrapped the demand for conducting separate e-auctions for local buyers and consuming industries with units outside the state.

The demand for separate e-auctions was raised by All Odisha Steel Federation (AOSF), a body representing the interests of steel makers and sponge iron manufacturers.

E-auction will be held for the ore produced by the miners after setting aside the quantity meant for their captive consumption and export commitment.

“We cannot have an arrangement where there are separate auctions for local units and buyers from outside the state. MSTC will conduct the e-auction on behalf of the state government. Today, we examined some buyer specific and seller specific conditions with respect to e-auction. The relevant terms and conditions are expected to be finalised within 2-3 days. After that, we will take government order for initiating e-auction,” Deepak Mohanty, director (mines) said after a meeting on e-auction with top MSTC officials.

Mohanty said, all stakeholders including representatives of mining fraternity, traders and consuming industries have given their consent for e-auction.

S K Tripathi, chairman and managing director of MSTC, said, “MSTC is ready to provide e-auction services to Odisha. The e-auction will involve registration of buyers and sellers. There is not even the remotest possibility of cartelisation as the process is very transparent.”

On the MoU (memorandum of understanding) to be signed between MSTC and the state government, he said, “The state government has to decide on the matter.”

The MoU would outline the roles, responsibilities, scope of work and remuneration for MSTC. A suitable government order will be issued, making e-auction compulsory from a certain date for sale of iron ore, manganese and chrome ore.

The state government, through, a recent notification, had stated that decision has been taken for introduction of sale of iron ore, manganese and chrome ore by all lessees and licensees in order to bring transparency and improvement in the existing system as well as to generate more revenues.

Electronic sale of key bulk minerals in Odisha is expected to start from April 2013.

MSTC would set up its office in Bhubaneswar for coordination and execution of e-auction related work. All users of e-auction will have to register with the MSTC website either as buyer or seller. Registration of buyers and sellers will be a continuous process. Users from the Odisha government will be provided with a master password by MSTC for monitoring purpose.

The sellers would forward the list of material with all details to MSTC in soft copy for creating online auction catalogue. The details would include the reserve price to be fixed by the seller. The reserve price would be the start price for the e-auction.