The government of the western Indian state of Goa will commence a new auction of iron ore mines within the next two to three months, state chief minister Pramod Sawant said in a statement on Wednesday, June 22.
It may be noted that iron ore mining in Goa was banned in 2018 when India’s Supreme Court in a verdict declared that allocation of 88 mining leases was illegal as the allocation was not through the auction route as mandated by mining laws.
“The State Bank of India has been appointed as consultants to oversee the entire auction process and we will start the process in two to three months,” Sawant said.
Earlier, the Mineral Exploration Corporation of Goa Limited had been mandated by the government to explore options for the auctioning of 90 iron ore mining leases.