By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, April 13, 2016 : Odisha has set a target to auction nine of the 14 mines – in various stages of exploration, by the end of this year.

“We hope the other eight mines would be ready for auction by year end, for which the survey is being done by the geology department, Geological Survey of India and Mineral Exploration Corporation Limited (MECL),” steel and mines minister Prafulla Mallick said.

“For this, necessary steps are being undertaken for the mines to be moved from G-3 to G-2,” he said.

A G-3 mine is at prospecting stage. Prospecting is the systematic process of searching for a mineral, while G2 mine is at general exploration stage and G1 is the stage where exploration can take place in a mine.

The other mines in Koraput, Keonjhar, Sundargarh and Bargarh districts are all in G3 status and will be available for auction by December.

For this necessary steps are being undertaken for the mines to be moved from G-3 to G-2, while GPS survey is also on, the minister said. .

The minister has said that out of the 14 mines in Odisha most of them are in G-3 status, i.e at general exploration stage. The work is being done by the geology department, Geological Survey of India and mineral exploration corporation limited (MECL).

Only the Kottameta limestone in Malkangiri district is in the G2 stage with its Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) survey will be over by May. The other mines in the Sundargarh, Koraput, Keonjhar, Bargarh districts are all in G3 status and will be suitable for auction by December.

Notably, the first iron ore has been auctioned to Essar Steel in Sundargarh district.