Bhubaneswar, Aug 10: Five mines in the State, that include two limestone mines located at Kotameta and Usakalabhagu in Malkangiri district, one in Garamara in Nuapada district, a manganese mine at Lasarda Pacheri in Keonjhar district and an iron ore mine in Sundargarh would be auctioned in August, as decided by the Mines department of the Odisha government. Yesterday, the officials informed that the notification for the auction will be issued soon.
Meanwhile, after the first auction of an iron ore mine at Gheraburnai-Sagasahi in Sundargarh, the State Government has announced that very soon nine mines of the State would be auctioned which include two chromite mines and seven other manganese mines.
The Mines minister, Prafulla Mallick said that the SBI Cap has finished the preparation of reports on the auction of 7-8 mines till now, though the SBI Cap was asked to work on auction of 11 mines.
On the other hand, BS Pani, Industry expert said that a lot of work like getting environment, forest and wildlife clearances and acquisition of land remains to be done after the auction. The government’s work of doing mine planning also remains after the auction.
Deepak Mohanty, Mines director on Tuesday informed that the Centre has approved prospective license (PL) and mining lease (ML) of two limestone mines in Odisha. He further said that three mines have also been converted from G-3 to G-2 level.
