December 1: The Ministry of Mines has managed to bring on-board Telangana to its mineral auction regime, with two limestone blocks being auctioned earlier in November. Telangana is the 14th State that is now part of the Centre’s mineral auction regime.
According to a senior official at the Ministry, talks are on to convince the State government to open-up critical mineral auctions.
The limestone blocks – a key raw material for cement-making – at Sultanpur and Saidulnama, were auctioned with NCL Industries and Deccan Cement. More blocks are likely to be put up for auctions soon.
The Centre had earlier this year written to the A Revanth Reddy-led government to auction 11-odd limestone blocks in the first phase. A deadline was set for some of them too; failing which, the Centre had said it would conduct the auction by itself.
“Telangana has come on-board the mineral auction regime now and two limestone blocks have been auctioned. We are in discussions for more major mineral blocks and also bring the State government on-board for critical mineral auctions,” the official told businessline.
Data from the Ministry show that 81 mineral block auctions – including critical and major minerals – have taken place in FY25 across 13 other states, that include Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Arunachal Pradesh, Goa and Tamil Nadu.
Some of the mineral blocks auctioned include limestone, manganese, tungsten, gold and associated mineralisation, cobalt, manganese, iron, graphite, vanadium, bauxite, laterite, iron ore, among others. Auctions were carried out by the state governments and Centre (for critical minerals).
Winning companies (for the earlier mineral auctions) included Vedanta, Hindustan Zinc, Oil India, Rungta Sons, JK Cement, Ambuja Cements, Dalmia Bharat, JSW Steel, Star Cement, Nuvoco Vistas, etc.
TN tungsten block
In Tamil Nadu’s Nayakkarpatti tungsten block, the State government has raised objections to carrying out mining activities in a supposed bio-diversity reserve. A senior official said, Environment Ministry guidelines have been followed and areas such as bio-diversity site is not included for exploration activities.
The block covers an area of over 20.16 sq km, and Hindustan Zinc won it last month.
A senior Ministry official said, the State Government had informed that land schedule details were unavailable; and as per the information available, out of the total area of 20.16 sq km, only 1.93 sq km – within Aritapatti and Meenakshipuram villages – has been notified as a Biodiversity Heritage Site.
