Auctioning of iron ore blocks at premium rates

Jaipur: The iron ore mining blocks of Rajasthan are now being auctioned at premium rates. Bhilwara’s Dhulkheda-Jipia iron ore block has been auctioned in the form of composite licences at a premium of 117 per cent over the reserve price. It means, the State Government will get a 117 per cent amount as a premium from this block in addition to royalty. In this year’s financial year, the e-auction of the iron ore mining block of Bagawas block of Jaipur was done at 452 per cent more than the reserve price. Additional Chief Secretary Dr Subodh Agrawal informed that the auction process was started keeping the reserve price of composite licence at 22.5 per cent with an initial estimate of 30.40 million tonnes of iron ore reserves in Dhulkheda-Jipia iron ore block of 8.88 sq km in Bhilwara. The 452 per cent premium amount for the Bagawas iron ore block auction is the highest in the history of mining block auctions across the country.