VIJAYAWADA: The Mines Department on Tuesday issued a notification, inviting bids for the auction of 10 gold blocks in Andhra Pradesh. While the process for the auction has begun, the last date to submit bids is September 2.
Stating that all the 10 blocks are located in Anantapur district, Director of Mines and Geology VG Venkata Reddy told TNIE they had initially issued a notification in March. “However, with the bidders seeking more time, we extended the time and issued the notification recently inviting bids for 10 gold blocks.”
Noting that the State government has rolled out several reforms in the mining sector to generate more revenue, Venkata Reddy explained that after the Centre gave its approval for auctioning the gold mines, they issued the notification inviting bids. But as they wanted to encourage more bidders to participate in the auction, they went extended the time as per the appeals received.
Stating that a high competition has been observed in the recent times when several bids were called for various mines, the official said several newcomers have entered the mining field following the initiatives of the State government to break monopoly in the mining sector.
Though the exact date for conducting the auction has not been finalised yet, it is learnt that the e-auction is likely to be taken up in two phases. The gold mines that have been put up for auction are Ramagiri North Block, Ramagiri South Block, Boksampalli North Block, Boksampalli South Block, Javakula-A Block, Javakula-B Block, Javakula-C Block, Javakula-D Block, Javakula-E Block, Javakula-F Block. Officials are expecting a good response from the bidders this time around.
Sept 2: Last date for bids
Last date to submit bids is September 2. Gold mines in Anatapur’s Ramagiri North Block, Ramagiri South Block, Boksampalli North Block, Boksampalli South Block, Javakula-A, B, C, D, E and F Blocks will go for auction. Officials are expecting a good response