KOLKATA (miningweekly.com) – India’s Supreme Court has directed that 15 iron-ore mines in the southern province of Karnataka will have to be put up for auction and the process completed within the next 32 weeks.
The apex court order would impact even those mines that had been brought back into production in 2013 after the court had imposed a two-year ban on mining operations in the province. The resumption of mining was on condition of a cap in total production of 30-million tons a year.
As per the latest order of the Supreme Court, only existing iron-ore users in sectors like sponge iron, pit iron and steelmaking would be eligible to bid for the 15 mines. Investors implementing new projects would not be eligible to put in bids.
In the case of about another 27 mines, the court directed the Karnataka government to complete detailed exploration to establish definite reserves and, thereafter, put these blocks up for auction too.
The court also set the reserve price for the auctions at 35% of the 12-month average iron-ore price set by the Indian Bureau of Mines.
All 15 mines up for auction had been put under “Category C” or worst offenders and violators by the Central Empowered Committee, which had probed illegal mining in Karnataka, and mining leases that had been cancelled soon after the ban on mining was imposed.