India: Bhushan Steel bags Kalamang Iron Ore Block in Odisha

Odisha opened financial bids for Netrabandha Pahar iron ore block today. The block is reserved for the purpose of merchant mining.

Technical bids for both Kalamang and Netrabandha Pahar were opened simultaneously. In toto, 28 bidders had submitted technical bids for both the blocks.

Bhushan Steel has won the Kalamang iron ore block in a round of intense bidding, outbidding heavyweights like Tata Steel, Jindal Steel & Power Ltd (JSPL), JSW Steel, another Bhushan Group firm- Bhushan Power & Steel Ltd and Vedanta Ltd. The preferred bidder- Bhushan Steel has offered to share 100% of the revenue with the Odisha government from its iron ore mining operations. The steel company would get a Letter of Intent (LoI) from the state government to develop the iron ore block. The onus would be on the company to obtain all regulatory clearances necessary to open the mining block. The Kalamang iron block with deposits of 92 MnT has been explored up to the G2 level.

On the contrary, the Netrabandh Pahar block located in Sundargarh's Koira sector has geological reserves of 77.25 MnT of which 61.9 MnT are high grade deposits. The total concession area is spread over 139 hectares with forest land making up 112 hectares. The onus would be on the successful bidder to obtain all regulatory clearances. The companies who have submitted bids for Netrabandha Pahar are Serajuddin and Company, Shri Bajrang Power and Ispat Ltd, NMDC, MSPL , Maithan Ispat Ltd, Feegrade & Company Pvt Ltd, JSPL, Bhushan Power & Steel Ltd, JSW Steel Ltd, Essel Mining & Industries Ltd, Vedanta Ltd, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL), Shri Jagannath Steels & Power Ltd, Orissa Metaliks Pvt Ltd and Tata Metaliks Ltd.
Apart from the two iron ore blocks, Odisha had also invited technical bids for Garramura limestone block which drew a blank. Previously, two limestone blocks have gone under the hammer in the state with Dalmia Cement and Thriveni Earthmovers emerging as the preferred bidders.

Odisha was also the first state to auction an iron ore block -- the Ghoraburhani-Sagasahi block bagged by Essar Steel. Essar Steel has proposed a production capacity of 7.16 MnT pa run of the mine product from the iron ore block. As part of the project, the steel company is also setting up a crushing & screening plant and a beneficiation plant with a capacity of 6.7 MnT pa over an area of 139.16 hectares (ha) at Ghoraburhani, Sagasahi and Kalmang villages situated in Sundargarh district.