Jindals, Baldotas big C' miners
The remaining mine has received not even one application.
Ballari: Of the seven category ‘C’ iron ore mines put for auction, steel giant JSW Pvt Ltd has successfully bid for five major mines and private sector mining major Baldota Group’s flagship company M/s MSPL has won two mines in this ore-rich district.
Mr Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Pvt Ltd has won five mine fields that include two mines of Goa-based Salgoankar group owned M/s Tungabhadra Minerals Pvt Ltd, M/s Rama Rao Poal, M/s Hothur Traders Traders and the mine operated by M/s VS Lad and Sons.
Hosapete-based M/s MSPL has taken over the mines of M/s Lakshminarayana Mining Company, one of the largest mine fields in the district and M/s Kartikeya Iron Ore Mines, previously operated by Mr Karthik Ghorpade. After completing the tender process, on-line auction for seven mines started on October 1. Though the government has proposed auction of 14 mines in the first phase, only seven mines are in demand and the other six mines have got one or two bidding applications. The remaining mine has received not even one application.
The state-owned Mineral Exploration Corporation Ltd had determined iron ore reserves from these 14 mines to be about 20 million tones and about Rs 40,000 crore was expected for the state’s exchequer by auctioning these mines.
However, by withholding the auctioning of seven mines which did not receive any demand from the bidders, the state is now expecting lesser revenue of around Rs 30,000 crore. Mining industry insiders say that steel industrialists have quoted exorbitant premium amounts for a few mines. Sources said, the floor price, for each of the mining lease, was fixed at 35 per cent of the Indian Bureau of Mines published price.