Cement, Energy and Environment

A view of the iron ore mines at Ramandurga Hills in Sandur, Be/lary District, Kamataka For the States that will conduct their own auctions, the Mines Ministry has advised engaging SBI Capital , a wholly-owned subsidiary of public lender State Bank of India, as a transaction advisor, Mr. Kumar said. It also suggested to consider MSTC, which pro·.;ides the platform for coal auct1ons The move comes at a time when the metal industry is going through a rough patch, with tne global econom1c sentiment contmuously going north and metal prices facing intense pressure on account of high production and subdued demand. Experts are of the view that auction of the mines overseen by a single agency (the Union Mines Ministry) will help weed out confusion. If the auctions are conducted from a single place, there will be less channels for communication and the coordination will be better. This will help fast-track the process, helping companies make better decisions based on the current domestic and international market situation , they added. Till date, 178 blocks have been identified by the states for the auctions - either in phase-1 or phase-II. The Mines Ministry has identified 199 such mines that can be allocated through the auction route. They are located in mineral-rich States such as Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh , Chhattisgarh, Karnataka and Odisha. Courtesy. PTI, September 18, 2015, From Internet INDIA TO FACE POWER SURPLUS, 300 MILLION PEOPLE MAY NOT BE ABLE TO AFFORD KOLKATA: India may be heading for a huge surplus of generation capacity because the 300 million people who don't have access to electricity also don't have the means to buy power from new plants that are being set up to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of power for all, experts said . The government said it intends to expand power generation capacity about three-fold to 800 gigawatts by 2030 and to fuel this, it IS target1ng coal production of 1.5 billion tonnes a year by 2020.