RAIPUR | May 02, 2017: Chhattisgarh on Tuesday successfully auctioned its third limestone block, Kesla-II to Dalmia Cement in a bidding that went on for a record 23 hours with the highest bid received 96.15% of IBM prices which is 20times more than the reserve price. The bidding began on May 1 at around 11 am.

Kesla-II block is situated in the Tilda Tehsil of Raipur district and covers over 357 hectare in area with an average grade of 43% CaO. The block is located at a distance of 40 km from Raipur.

According to senior officers in state mining department, total revenue that the state would receive from this auction has surpassed that of all previous non-coal mineral blocks at Rs 11,893 crores over the life of mine.

The tender was floated on February, 21 and the last date of submitting bids was April, 7. The reserve price of Kesla-II was fixed at 5% of IBM prices and the floor price was 21% of IBM prices. This figure is more than the amount of Rs 8,215.8 crore raised by the auction of Ghoraburhani-Sagashi iron ore block in Odisha, the highest revenue earner till date.

Over Rs 9,967 crore would accrue to the government as bid-revenue and over 1,900 crore through royalty, DMF and NMET. Over 600 bids have been received from the parties interested in winning the mining lease for the Kesla-II block.

Under the leadership of Chief Minister Raman Singh, who also holds the mining portfolio, directorate of Geology and Mining has broken the national record of obtaining the highest bid for any limestone block, previously, held by Rajasthan at 67.94% of IBM prices for its limestone block of Nagaur district.

Secretary, mining department, Subodh Kumar Singh said that the bids were invited on the condition that it would be used for clinker/cement plants. "In the experience of government of Chhattisgarh, value addition of mineral resources is the right way forward for the socio-economic development of the nation."

Chhattisgarh had also earned the distinction of conducting the first ever successful non-coal mineral auction in India in February, 2016 with the auction of Karhi Chandi limestone block. It is also the first and only state in India to successfully auction a gold mine.

In the first phase, Chhattisgarh auctioned three mines from which it is expected to receive more than Rs 4,800 crore over the lease period.

To bring in transparency in the allocation process, the MMDR (Amendment) Act, 2015 stipulated auction as the mechanism of allocation. Since then, over 20 blocks have been successfully auctioned across various states.

(Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/)