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According to the Ministry of Mines, after securing Rs 1.81 lakh crores from e-auction of 50 mineral blocks, the government is hoping to put on another 100 mines block in the next six months. The government has already auctioned 50 mines, including 23 limestones, 17 iron ore, 4 gold, 2 each of manganese and graphite blocks and one bauxite and diamond block each.
There are to be 102 mineral blocks auctioned by March 2019 in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Etc., as per a report by the Ministry of Mines.
These include 42 limestones, 19 bauxite, 11 manganese ore, 8 copper, 6 iron ore, 6 graphite, 3 zinc, 2 emerald, 2 gold, 1 iron ore & manganese, 1 dolomite/limestone and 1 copper ore.
As per the report, Jharkhand will auction the highest 20 blocks followed by 16 by Rajasthan and 13 each by Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. Of these 102, the government plans to auction two limestone blocks in October.
The CAK limestone block in Andhra Pradesh with reserves of 104.68 million tonnes (MT) will be auctioned on October 12. The Bhatvadiya block in Gujarat with reserves of 477.2 MT will under fo the e-auction on October 17.
The Centre had earlier said it was considering granting all approvals, including environmental clearance, to mineral blocks before putting them up for sale, a move that may give a push to the auctions.
It has given in-principle approval to provide single clearance for environment and forest to the new leaseholders of the 288 mining leases expiring in two years.
