As the ban on iron ore mining still continues in the Indian state of Karnataka, the country's second-biggest iron ore-producing state, the monitoring committee appointed by India's Supreme Court will conduct an electronic auctioning of iron ore illegally produced by private companies and impounded by the state government.
The liquidation of 25 million mt of iron ore stocks in Karnataka to begin on Wednesday, September 14, will provide relief for steel producers who are about to run out of raw material supply. The state government plans to carry out the auctioning in small amounts, i.e., 1.5 million mt each month.
As SteelOrbis previously reported, at the beginning of August, Indian steelmaker JSW Steel's biggest steel plant Vijayanagar, which accounts for 70 percent of JSW's total steel output, was facing an involuntary shutdown because of an iron ore supply shortage.