Govt to get over Rs 6700 cr from auction of 2 limestone blocks

Government is expected to earn a revenue of over Rs 6,700 crore after Chhattisgarh successfully conducted mine lease auction for two large limestone blocks.
Yesterday, Chhattisgarh became the first state in the country to conduct mine lease auction of a limestone block, assuring revenue of around Rs 5,800 crore, including in royalty, DMF and NMET contributions.
"Today, Chhattisgarh again successfully conducted a mine lease auction for a limestone block, from which the expected revenue is Rs 928 crore," a senior government official said.
Total revenue to the government will be more than Rs 6,700 crore at prevailing prices from the two blocks in the state, the official added.

The royalty coupled with contributions for the District Mineral Foundation (DMF) and National Mineral Exploration trust (NMET) from both the blocks will be in the range of Rs 1,388 crore and Rs 600 crore, respectively, the official said.
Cumulative value of resources from both the blocks is around Rs 10,800 crore.

Another official said that Jharkhand has auctioned two small blocks of limestone, which have an estimated resource value of around Rs 66 crore, but resources are expected to increase significantly on the basis of mineralisation report after detailed exploration.
The auction of two blocks is for a composite lease or Prospecting License (PL)-cum-Mining License (ML).

As of January 15, Chhattisgarh has offered four limestone blocks for auction. In total 23 limestone blocks -- key ingredient in cement making -- has been offered by the states.
So far, out of 43 notice inviting tenders (NITs) issued for mines containing minerals such as iron ore, bauxite, gold, limestone, etc, states have successfully auctioned 4 blocks.
The development comes as a shot in the arm for the government, which has seen few takers for its Limestone blocks in the ongoing mines auction.
The mines auction in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan failed to find many interested parties, forcing the state governments to talk to the industry and working on re-auctioning the blocks.