Auction of 18 ore dumps postponed to Jan 30

Panaji: As the scrutiny of technical bids could not be completed on time, state govt postponed the auction of 18 low-grade iron ore dumps to Jan 30. The auction of the dumps will take place in four phases. The auction was supposed to commence on Wednesday.

State govt received 125 bids for the 18 dumps that were put up for auction. Once the bids are scrutinised, successful bidders will participate in the auction. The 18 dumps will be e-auctioned from Jan 30 to Feb 4.

A total of 173 mining companies and traders have shown interest in purchasing these dumps. Govt has fixed a reserve price of 22% for the first e-auction of low-grade iron ore dumps in the state. If the Indian Bureau of Mines price is Rs 100 per tonne for low-grade iron ore and the mining companies purchase the ore at auction at the 22% reserve price, the companies must pay Rs 22 per tonne to govt.

Govt has also fixed the criteria for traders and mining companies to participate in the e-auction — the bidders should have a minimum net worth of Rs 25 crore. Govt has put up the 18 low-grade iron ore dumps with a total quantity of around 30 million tonnes for auction.

Up to 25 million tonnes of ore from dump handling can be exported. Of the 18 dumps, 15 are in South Goa.

The Supreme Court allowed Goa govt to carry out dump mining activity in the state in accordance with an expert committee’s report. Accordingly, the policy for regulating iron ore dump handling was notified on Sep 14, 2023. The Dump Handling Policy, 2023, paved the way to deal with the 700 million tonnes of low-grade iron ore lying inside and outside mining leases across Goa and to export 25 million tonnes per annum.

A senior officer said the dump handling policy was challenged in court.

Recently, the state cabinet amended the dump mining policy to allow erstwhile leaseholders to handle the low-grade iron ore dumped by them in another mining lease that was never operated.