India: Rungta Mines places highest bid for Purheibahal iron ore block

Rungta Mines has placed the highest bid for the Purheibahal iron ore block in the mines auctions in Odisha at a premium of 124%, SteelMint learnt from sources. This is the third mine that the company has bid for in the auction after Chandiposhi and Jumka Pathiriposhi.

It is notable that the Rungta's sponge-making capacity has increased from 1.12 mntpa a couple of years back to the current 1.48 mntpa. Rungta Group has sponge plants in Jharkhand (0.66 mntpa) and Odisha (0.81 mntpa).

Sources informed SteelMint that there were eight technically qualified bidders for the Purheibahal iron ore block with the highest bid being around 81% from Rungta Mines. The companies which had cleared the technical round for Purheibahal iron ore block were Rungta Mines, Jagannath Steel, ArcelorMittal/Nippon Steel India, Essel Mining, Ramgad Minerals, TP Sao & Sons, Amalgam Steel and Shyam Metaliks.

The virgin mine has an area of 64.337 hectares (ha) with explorations done up to the G2 level. The mine has total geological resources of 44.04 million tonnes (mn t) Fe content (at Fe 55% cut-off) and 2.76 mn t (at Fe 45-55% cut off).

The government has put 10 iron ore blocks under the hammer in this round. The Odisha government has cancelled the Teherai iron and manganese mine block auction on limited participation, sources reported. According to the state government's tender, if the total number of technically qualified bidders is less than three, no technically qualified bidder shall be considered as qualified bidder.

Odisha mine block auction summary - Phase II