The fourth and final iron ore block, Kalay, put up for auction in the current round of auctions by the government of the Indian state of Goa has been awarded to Sociedade de Fomento Industrial after submitting the highest bid, a government official said on Thursday, December 22.
This completes the current round of auctions of four iron ore blocks, paving the way for the resumption of iron ore mining in Goa, halted by the Supreme Court in 2012 which had held the renewal of mining leases to miners without auctions to be illegal.
Earlier this month, the auctions were completed for three iron ore blocks, namely, Monte de Sirigao, Bicholim and Sirigao Mayem, awarded to N S Bandekar & Co, Vedanta Limited and Salgaocar Shipping Limited, respectively.