Bhubaneswar: Ten more mineral blocks, including one in Odisha, have been successfully auctioned, the Mines Ministry informed on Tuesday.
These were part of the tranche V auction of 15 blocks launched on January 28. The blocks comprise critical and strategic minerals such as graphite, phosphorite, phosphate, rare earth elements (REE), vanadium, and for the first time, potash and halite spread, across Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
State-owned Coal India, Oil India, NLC India and Vedanta group firm Hindustan Zinc were among the firms that bagged these blocks under the fifth round of auction. Vinmir Resources Pvt Ltd won the bid for Salepali Graphite block in Odisha’s Balangir.
“A key milestone under tranche V is the first-ever successful auction of a Potash block by the Government of India, marking a major step towards unlocking domestic Potash resources. The move is expected to catalyse Potash mining in the country, reduce reliance on imports, and strengthen support to the agriculture sector,” the Ministry said in a statement.
This milestone also marks the first-ever successful auction of a critical and strategic mineral block in Rajasthan.
With this, the total number of blocks auctioned by the central government has reached 34.
