Odisha govt invites tender for e-auction of one iron ore mines

The sale of tender documents for e-auction of mines will end on Feb 5 while documents can be submitted by Feb 10

BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha government on Wednesday issued a notification inviting tender for e-auction of an iron ore mines under the amended MMDR Act, 2015.

The government has decided to auction only one block – Ghoraburahani-Sagasahi East iron ore mines in Sundargarh district with a reserve of around 90 million tonne under Mines and Mineral (Development and Regulation) Act.

“The government reserve this mineral blocks for specified end use for integrated steel plant,” said the notification issued by the directorate of mines.  

Earlier, the state government had proposed to auction two mines in the first phase. However, the required documents for the electronic auction of the lone iron ore block was approved by the Union government while the other identified block- Jhunka-Patriposi, which is at the G3 exploration, is yet to get central clearance.

This block will be offered in the form of a composite license- prospecting license (PL) cum mining license (ML), said mines director Deepak Mohanty.

“Selling of the tender documents also started today. The willing bidders will be asked to submit their queries, if any, by January 15 and a pre-bid conference will be held on January 20,” said Mohanty.

While financial bids are invited in digital format only, technical bids are invited both in digital and physical format from eligible bidders.

He said if any modification is required in tender documents as per their queries, it would be done by February 2.

The sale of tender documents will end on February 5 while the bidding documents can be submitted to the Directorate of Mines by February 10.

“We will take another ten days for the technical evaluation of the bidding report, and auction process will be finished by March 20,” said Mohanty.

Detailed tender documents along with timelines, notifications and other updates for the e-auction process from the website mstcecommerce.com/auctionhome/mlcl/index.jsp

The auction platform would be provided by MSTC Ltd, while SBI Capital Markets Ltd (SBI Caps), a fully owned subsidiary of State Bank of India, is the transaction advisor for conducting mineral e-auction.

The transaction advisor would assist the state government in fixing the floor price for the auction, he added.

The state government has already formed a committee under the development commissioner for the smooth conduct of mines auction in the state. The committee’s mandate is to monitor the preparatory work relating to auction of major mineral concessions, including the conduct of DGPS (Differential Global Positioning System) survey and preparation of tender documents.

The auction can be conducted only through an online electronic platform. The state government may utilise any online platform which meets the minimum technical and security requirements as specified in the guidelines for compliance with quality requirements of e-procurements issued by the standardisation testing and quality certification directorate under the department of information technology.