Electrosteel Steels has bagged Nadidih BICO iron ore block at Odisha auctions as the company has bid the highest bid for the block in the last week. According to the sources, the steel player bid a premium of 95.6% for the block. Last year, the iron ore block had been bagged by Sociedade De Fomento, offering 141.25% in premium but the Goa-based miner chose not to sign a lease agreement on grounds that the MDPA was too aggressive for this reserve. Bidding for this particular block, Rungta Group's BICO mined started at 76.1% premium, which was offered by Vedanta's Electrosteel as the IPO price. The other four qualified bidders in this forward round included Ramgad Minerals, Rungta, AM/NS India and Odisha Metaliks. On the other hand, JSW's latest acquisition Bhushan Power bid 30% and Jagannath Power bid 27% premium. Both the lower bids were disqualified from the second round. The mine has an area of 74.5 Ha with explorations done up to G2 level and has total geological resources of around 27 million tonnes of iron ore. The mine produces 89.34% fines and 10.67% lumpy ore. The government has put 10 iron ore blocks under the hammer in this round. These include Nadidih BICO, Kasia, Gandhalpada, JumkaPatrishohi to name a few. Department of Steel and Mines of the Odisha Government expects to complete the auction process by the end of September 2021. After the current tranche of 11 mineral blocks, it may auction another five blocks as composite leases. The Odisha government is expected to announce the technically qualified bidders for other mines gradually in the coming days.