35 blocks of iron ore among other minerals to be auctioned in April, May

A total of 35 mines will be auctioned in the next two months out of 112 mineral blocks that are slated to go under the hammer in 2018-19 financial year, Ministry of Mines said on Tuesday.

It said 35 mineral blocks including that of iron ore, bauxite and limestone, among others have been auctioned as on March 12, 2018 and another 35 are at various stages of bidding.

"NIT (notice inviting tender) is going on for 35 blocks. While 30 blocks will be auctioned in April, 5 will go under the hammer in May, 2018," it said in a report.

While in Jharkhand, NIT is going on for one iron ore and one graphite mine, in Karnataka, the process is on for eight iron ore blocks. In Madhya Pradesh, tenders are being invited for five limestone, one bauxite, one graphite and an iron ore block, it said.

The auction process is also going on for four bauxite, three limestone, two manganese, two copper and one iron ore mine in Maharashtra and two iron ore blocks and three limestone blocks in Odisha.