State govt preparing to auction mineral blocks

Apart from this, the Department of Mines had applied for environmental and Pollution Control Board (PCB) approvals for 16 blocks and these blocks would be auctioned after getting all the requisite permissions from various bodies.

Hyderabad: The Department of Mines is preparing to allocate major and minor mineral blocks in the State through auction. According to sources, mineral wise proposals have been sent to the government by the department.

The Department of Mines hopes to start the auction process as soon as Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy approves the proposal. There are three limestone blocks and 12 minor minerals that would be auctioned, sources added.

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Apart from this, the Department of Mines had applied for environmental and Pollution Control Board (PCB) approvals for 16 blocks and these blocks would be auctioned after getting all the requisite permissions from various bodies.

The mines would be leased for 20 years to those who qualify in the auction. Usually after obtaining the mining lease, environmental clearances and PCB approvals are given for the mining of minerals, however, this time these clearances were taken by the Department of Mines for the blocks to be auctioned in advance without any cost to the lessees, the sources said.

Earlier, mines were allotted on first come, first serve basis, but this time mines would be allotted to those who quoted the highest amount. Due to this, the competition will increase and the mining department will get more income, the sources added.

The Department of Mines has so far issued 2,681 mining leases, totalling 79,751 hectares, for all types of minerals across the State and out of which the number of minerals currently being mined is 1798.

So far 122 leases have been granted for six types of major minerals like coal, limestone and pig iron, out of which 87 are currently being mined.