Some states begin mineral mine auction process: Govt

The process of auction of mineral-bearing mines has been initiated by some states, Parliament was informed today.
"The government of India has not completed the process of auction for mines. All auctions for mines are to be conducted only by the respective state governments... The process of auction of mineral blocks has been initiated by some state governments," Minister of State for Steel and Mines Vishnu Deo Sai told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply.
The minister said, "The necessary rules for enabling the auction of minerals have been framed by the ministry and have been already notified in the official gazette. The ministry has also formulated a 'Model' tender document...& MDPA (Mine Development and Production Agreement) to facilitate the state governments to expedite the auction process."

The Centre has handed over geological reports of 75 blocks explored by the Geological Survey of India (GSI) and 62 blocks explored by the Mineral Exploration Corporation Limited (MECL) to the respective state governments, he added.
Mines Secretary Balvinder Kumar had said that "around 65-70 blocks have been shortlisted for the mines auction in the first phase by the states. Earlier, this number was 80-90."
Parliament passed the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2015 in March, which stipulates auction as the only means to allow extraction of minerals.

In a separate reply to the House, the minister said that there was no proposal to stop import of steel from foreign countries.

"Safeguard duty is a temporary relief allowed to domestic industry within the framework of the World Trade Organisation, if it suffers injury from cheap/sudden surge in imports. It is not a mechanism against import from any specific country or in usual course of business," the minister said.
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Replying to a separate question, the minister said the slurry pipeline will be used to transport iron ore fines from NMDC's Bailadila mine in Chhattisgarh to Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, where Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd has its steel-making facility.
"The slurry pipeline to carry iron ore from Bailadila to Visakhapatnam has been planned in two phase. The first phase is of 138 Km. This has been planned to be completed in 24 months after obtaining all statutory clearances," Sai said.

The minister further said that slurry pipeline system is an alternate mode of transportation of iron ore fines in slurry form, after fine grinding and its concentration.
The capital expenditure of the first phase of the slurry pipeline system from Bailadila to Nagarnar is around Rs 4,000 crore and the second phase from Nagarnar to Visakhapatnam is around Rs 6,000 crore, the minister said.
"The portion of the iron ore fines transported in slurry form will be drawn at Nagarnar for making pellets in the pellet plant at Nagarnar and the remaining portion will be transported to Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited, Visakhapatnam for making pellets," the minister said.

NMDC is building the slurry pipeline for transporting pellets from Bailadila to Visakhapatnam via Jagdalpur with provision of partial offtake at Nagarnar.