Expect huge gains from 250 mineral blocks' auction: Mines Secy

States will next fiscal auction up to 250 mineral blocks, mining leases of which have lapsed due to regulatory hurdles, and would generate lakhs of crores of rupees in revenue, a top official said today.
The deposits in these mines include iron-ore, bauxite, manganese, limestone as well as dolomite and their leases have lapsed this month in the absence of forest and environment clearances, required for execution of a lease deed.
Mines Secretary Balvinder Kumar told PTI in an interview that till now around 21 mineral blocks have gone under the hammer and fetch Rs 73,359.4 crore to the states.

Auctioning off another 200-250 minerals blocks would be the major work for the government in the coming fiscal, Kumar said.
"200 plus cases (mining lease approvals) have already lapsed. Very soon we will get the details of these cases," the Secretary said.
The amended MMDR Act, which stipulated that all mining licences for major minerals be granted through auctions, had a saving clause, giving respite to those mining lease (ML) applications that had been approved by the Centre or in favour of which the state governments concerned had issued letters of intent (LoI) before the new Act.

The Act gave these ML applicants a deadline of January 11, 2017 (i.E. 2 years from the date of notification of an MMDR ordinance) for execution of the lease deeds with the respective state, after fulfilment of the conditions prescribed in the ML approval/LoI.

"The window of two years has come to an end... Over 200 cases have been lapsed. States will put on auction 250 cases in the coming fiscal," the Secretary said.
Of the 21 mineral blocks auctioned so far, Kumar said, seven are in Karanataka, three each are in Rajasthan, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, one each Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.
"A total revenue of Rs 73,359.4 crore will go to the states over a period of 50 years due to the auction of 21 mineral blocks," Kumar said.
The mines were auctioned for minerals like limestone, iron ore and diamond, the Secretary added.