Federation against auction of mineral resources: RK Sharma

The Supreme Court on Thursday held the 2G Presidential Reference maintainable and provided a major relief to the government. It clarified that the auction order in the 2G scam was only restricted to telecom spectrum and not for all natural resources.

In an interview with CNBC-TV18, RK Sharma, the Secretary General of the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries said they welcome the verdict. Sharma clarified that the judgement now makes the auction rules transparent and in case of mineral resources, it is never possible to judge the level of resources before delving deeper into the mines. He also stated that the federation is against competitive bidding for mineral resources. Here is the edited transcript of the interview on CNBC-TV18. Q: Does this give you a sigh of relief? The Supreme Court has ruled that the auction rule was intended only for the spectrum issue in question and it was not making a rule for all natural resources?
A: Yes, we actually welcome this judgement from the Supreme Court for the simple reason that you can auction what you exactly know you are auctioning. In the case of 2G you knew what you are auctioning. In the case of mineral resources, you cannot know the level of resources, what are the grades. As you go deep down into the mines, the grades change, the texture changes, the whole configuration changes. It depends on zoology.
I will give one instance. At the time of liberation of Goa, the zoological survey of India estimated iron ore resources to last only for 10-15 years. Now, since 1960 till date, Goa has exported more than one billion tonnes of iron ore and as on 1/4/2010, the resources of Goa is 927 million tonnes. Q: Therefore your federation itself will argue for the continuation of allocation of coal mines?
A: Yes. Q: You will fight against any competitive bidding of coal mines?
A: Yes we will. We are actually against the auction mode as far as the mineral resources are concerned.