Odisha to auction 7 mines by August 2016

By - CEM Team

Odisha, one of the major states on Eastern coast of India, has revealed its plans to auction at least seven mines by August 2016. Odisha is the 9th largest state of the country and has a large coastline of 301 miles along Bay of Bengal. The state has abundant natural resources and contains a fifth of India's coal, a quarter of its iron ore, a third of its bauxite reserves and most of the chromite.
These seven mines announced for auction include iron ore, manganese and a bauxite mines in Koraput district. "We are in the process of auctioning seven more mines by July-August this year. Among the mines, a bauxite mine would be auctioned in Koraput district," said the state Steel and Mines Minister Prafulla Mallick.

Announcement of Odisha government to auction seven of its mines is well accepted as an awaited news by London based aluminum major – Vedanta - a leading refinery player. Company has been facing a shortage of raw material due to which it is currently running its refinery and smelter plants at less than 50% capacity. Though its manufacturing plant is close to several mines, company has been struggling to acquire sufficient bauxite raw material for its 1mtpa refinery in Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district. It is likely to participate now in the bidding process of bauxite mine.
 
The Minister Prafulla Mallick also mentioned that he will be participating in the all India mining ministers' meeting to be held at Jaipur on May 27. This meeting is supposed to raise and discuss the solution to several issues including the process for granting environment and forest clearances to mines in the state, setting up of District Mineral Foundation (DMF), minor mineral rules and curbing Illegal mining and enhanced penal provisions. Also, the meeting agenda includes the identification of major mineral blocks and their auction preparedness. This comes as a news of interest for companies looking at Indian geography for investment in refinery sector.

With the regulatory and governance aspects been worked upon for several other sectors in the country, this move can certainly be perceived to mark a step forward in facilitating ease of doing business for refinery sector.