Bhubaneswar: Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Steel bagged Jajang iron ore block in Keonjhar district by committing to pay 110 per cent of sale value of the ore to the state government. This is the fourth mines the steel firm owned during the ongoing auction.
According to sources, JSW emerged as the highest bidder for the mineral block iron ore with 39.42 million tonnes of reserves beating its competitors Serajuddin & Co, Lal Traders, Rungta Mines, Eastern Mining, JSPL and Adani. The mining lease of the block is currently with Rungta Mines and will be expired this March.
JSW Steel has already won the largest iron ore block, the Nuagaon mine, with estimated reserve of around 790 million tonnes (MT) Friday followed by winning Narayanposhi iron block with 190 MT reserve last Sunday beating players like ArcelorMittal, Vedanta, Adani etc. It has also bagged Ganua iron ore block with 118 MT at 132 per cent premium. Another plus point for the company is that all these mines are operational, the source said.
Tuesday, Serajuddin and Co retained Balda iron ore block during the auction that went on till 2.41am. ArcelorMittal India Pvt Ltd had won Thakurani iron ore block that was auctioned Monday.
After the annulment of three notices inviting tender (NIT) in October 2019 for auction of iron ore and manganese blocks because of conflicts between participating bidders, the Odisha government released an NIT for 20 iron ore and manganese blocks December 6, 2019.
While 15 of the 20 mines being auctioned predominantly have iron ore, three have both iron ore and manganese, the remaining are primarily manganese reserves.
The 18 mines containing iron ore reserves together hold 1,600 million tonne of which 33 per cent (five mines) are reserved for specified end-use (captive usage). These are old mines where leases are set to expire in March 2020.