TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: The next e-auction will be held on November 6 and 7 where the Mines Department will put up 19 lakhs metric tonnes of iron ore on the block. The department has announced a detailed schedule of the e-auction. The process is being monitored by a Supreme Court appointed committee.
In its notification the department has announced a two phase e-auctioning on November 6 and 7, through which 10 lakh and 9 lakh metric tonne of iron ore would be auctioned respectively. At the time of lifting its two-year long ban mining activities, the apex court had allowed e-auctioning of iron ore which was extracted during the 2007-2012 period.
The state has a total of 15 million metric tonnes of iron ore lying at various jetties, stacking yards, mining leases and the Mormugao Port Trust.
During the Goa government’s earlier four e-auctioning events, five million metric tonnes of iron were sold to various buyers.
The government had postponed the e-auction due to falling prices of iron ore.
The slowdown in China’s economy, along with a reduction in steel production in that country was one of the reasons why iron ore export has slowed down, experts conceded.
The government is in the process of renewing leases even as it is being challenged at various forums. The government is also in the midst of an investigation into the illegal mining that took place between 2009 and 2011 and is trying to comply with various conditions that had been put up by the apex court and the CEC to ensure proper and sustainable mining activity in the future.
