India's Ministry of Mines has decided to put the Khandadhar
iron ore reserves in the eastern Indian state of Orissa up for auction, thereby preventing any preferential allotment to South Korea-based steel producer POSCO, a ministry official said on Wednesday, April 15.
POSCO was interested in the Khandadhar
iron ore reserves for its proposed $12 billion steel plant in Orissa with a planned capacity of 12 million mt per year but the project has been pending since 2006 as the Korean steel major's application seeking raw material linkage with Khandadhar was not granted by the federal government.
Although the ministry official declined to specifically elaborate on POSCO or any specific project, he said that the provincial government has been advised to put the Khandadhar reserves up for auction, thereby indicating that if POSCO wants the reserves it will have to participate in the auction.