TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: Approximately 10 lakh tonnes of iron ore will be for the third e-auction of stacked iron ore which is likely to be held on March 19, by the Mines and Geology department sources said Monday.
In the first e-auction the department had auctioned 5.1 lakh tonnes of ore and 12 lakh tones at the last auction. Some 15 million tonnes of iron ore was currently stacked at jetties, stockyards and beneficiation plants across the State’s mining belt. irector of Mines and Geology Prasanna Acharya has issued the notification for e-auctioning, which is scheduled to take place next month.
The Supreme Court while hearing a petition in the Goa illegal mining case had allowed online auctioning of ore and the department had issued notices inviting applications from prospective bidders to participate in e-auctioning of extracted ore in Goa.
According to estimates, there is approximately 15 million tonnes of ore lying unused at jetties, stockyards and beneficiation plants, of which 11.48 million tonnes is accounted for while the rest is apparently illegally extracted.
The Supreme Court has allowed e-auction of ore extracted prior to ban after appointing a monitoring committee. Mining has ben banned after an interim order of the Supreme Court.
