Electronic sale of key bulk minerals in Odisha are expected to start from the coming April. E-auction services will be offered by Kolkata-based MSTC Ltd, a central government-owned company.
“We are making efforts to launch e-auction of iron ore, manganese and chrome ore from April 1. In December, we will convene a meeting of all stakeholders to decide the modalities. Once a consensus is reached, we will take the government order,” said the government’s director (mines), Deepak Mohanty.
A five-member panel on the proposed e-auction, headed by steel and mines secretary Rajesh Verma, had its first meet today, with MSTC representatives present.
“E-auction will ensure transparency and fairness in mineral trading. The system will enable us to track transactions between lessees and buyers. The rates will reflect the actual market prices,” added Mohanty.
B B Singh, director (commercial), MSTC, said: “We have discussed all issues related to e-auction of minerals threadbare. Our services will be customised to suit the requirement of mining lessees and buyers. Bidders can participate from anywhere in the country.”
Asked if MSTC would enter into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Odisha government, Singh said, “This needs government approval. After the state government gives its nod, it will take us one to two months to roll out e-auction services.”
Domestic sale of iron ore produced in Odisha was 60 million tonnes (mt) in 2011-12, while that of chrome ore and manganese ore was one mt and 50,000 tonnes, respectively.
The MoU would outline the roles, responsibilities, scope of work and remuneration for MSTC. The government order would make e-auction compulsory from a certain date for the sale of these three minerals. A recent state government notification had stated a decision had been taken to introduce such sales for iron ore, manganese and chrome ore by all lessees and licensees, to bring transparency and improvement in the system, as well as to generate more revenues. “E-auction would be a progressive measure to curb illegal mining,” the notification stated.
MSTC would set up an office here to coordinate and implement the work. All users of e-auction will have to register with the MSTC website, as buyer or seller, a continuous process. Users from the Odisha government will be provided a master password by MSTC.
The sellers would send the list of material with all details to MSTC for creating an online auction catalogue. The details would include the reserve price, to be fixed by the seller. This would be the starting price for the e-auction, which MSTC would schedule in consultation with the seller. Only companies registered with the Odisha government as consignees would be eligible to participate, subject to their getting registered with the MSTC website and asking the required deposit.
