The Goa government’s forthcoming auction of 18 idle low grade iron ore dumps has attracted interest from 173 mining companies in participation in the bidding process, government sources said on Thursday, January 2.
The government has fixed the reserve price for the first ever e-auction of idle iron ore dumps at 22 percent. That is if the price for low grade iron ore is fixed at INR 100/mt by the Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM), then any winning bidders at the auction will need to pay the government at the rate of INR 22/mt for the entire volume available at the specific dump.
Last month, the Goa government had announced that it was putting up for auction 18 idle iron ore dumps with a total estimated volume of 30 million mt of low grade Fe content in the range of 45-51 percent. This was after the government revised its e-auction policy for auction of dumps of low grade iron ore lying in private land for which conversion charges had not been paid by the landowners.
