Ranchi, Feb. 13: Jharkhand became the first state to successfully announce the preferred bidder of two limestone blocks. According to the Director mines, Hariharpur Lem Bicha, Block � I and Hariharpur Lem Bicha, Block II located in Ramgarh district have become the first allotted sites as per new Mineral (Auction) Rules, 2015 on 12.02.2016 for grant of Composite Licence ( PL – cum – ML).
Government of India has made grant of mining lease in respect of notified minerals through auction process, only after the amendment of Mines & Mineral (Development & Regulation Act), 1957 in the year 2015. Subsequently, Government of India formulated Mineral (Auction) Rules, 2015. After the formulation of new Mineral (Auction) Rules, 2015, various mineral rich states started auctioning process of mineral blocks.
Director mines added that Jharkhand government too started the process of auction of one gold block located in Pahardia area of West Singhbhum District and two limestone blocks viz. Hariharpur Lem Bicha, Block – I and Hariharpur Lem Bicha, Block – II located in Ramgarh district. Government of Jharkhand signed MOU with M/s MSTC, Kolkata for providing online e-auction platform. M/s MECON, Ranchi limited has been selected as Transaction Advisor for preparing bid documents and other services.
The Notice Inviting Tender (NIT) for grant of Composite Licence (PL �cum- ML) for one block of gold and two blocks of limestone were published on 01.12.2015 and 07.12.2016 respectively. Submission of technical bid for gold has been extended till 13.02.2016.
Regarding the above two limestone blocks, three bidders viz. M/s Burnpur Cement Limited � Asansol, M/s Onkara Polyplast Pvt. Ltd.- Kolkata, and M/s Bilaspur Mining Industries Pvt. Ltd-Bilaspur (Chhatisgarh) have submitted their bid documents and all of them were found to be technically qualified for the bidding process.
Online bidding was held successfully on 12.02.2016 and M/s Burnpur Cement Limited � Asansol became the preferred bidder for both the limestone blocks which has been announced by M/s MSTC Ltd. on its website.
The reserve price fixed for bidding of above two limestone blocks by the state government was ten percent of the value of mineral dispatch.
The value of mineral dispatch is calculated as the product of mineral dispatched in a month as per approved mining plan multiplied by sale price of the mineral as published by Indian Bureau of Mines for such month of dispatch. The highest bid received during the auction process of above two limestone blocks were twelve percent which is above the base (reserve) price of ten percent fixed by the state government.
Jharkhand government has become the first state in the country to successfully conduct the e-auction process as per the new Mineral (Auction) Rules, 2015 resulting in announcement of the preferred bidder on February 12, 2016.
