(1) Subject to the provisions of rule 5, the Director, Mines/Deputy Commissioner shall issue a notice inviting tender, at least in three daily News Paper and on the State Government Website to commence the auction process and such notice shall contain brief particulars regarding the area under auction, including.-
(a) particulars of the area identified and demarcated shall be divided into forest land, land owned by the State Government, and land not owned by the State Government
(b) estimated mineral resources and brief particulars regarding evidence of mineral contents with respect to all minerals in the area as provided by Director, Geology.
(2) The tender document issued by the Director, Mines /Deputy Commissioner shall contain.-
(a) geological report prepared by the Director, Geology specifying particulars and estimated quantities of all minerals discovered in the area; and
(b) revenue survey details of the area identified and demarcated shall be divided into forest land, land owned by the State Government, and land not owned by the State Government
(3) The bidders shall be provided a fixed period, as notified by the Director, Mines /Deputy Commissioner to study the tender document and such reports and the bidding process shall commence only on expiry of such period.
Jharkhand Gazette Ordinary Notification No.—24, dated—06 September,2017
(4) The auction shall be an ascending forward online electronic auction and shall comprise of the following rounds, namely:-
(a) First Round of Auction to be held in the following manner, namely:-
(i) the bidders shall submit- (A) a technical bid comprising amongst others, documentary evidence to confirm eligibility as per the provisions of the Act and the rules made thereunder to participate in the auction, bid security and such other documents and payments as may be specified in the tender document; and (B) an initial price offer which shall be a percentage of value of mineral despatched;
(ii) only those bidders who are found to be eligible in accordance with the terms and conditions of eligibility specified in rule 6 and whose initial price offer is equal to or greater than the reserve price, referred to as "technically qualified bidders", shall be considered for the second round of electronic auction;
(iii) The Highest initial price offer amongst the technically qualified bidders shall be the floor price of the second round of online electronic auction.
(iv) the technically qualified bidders shall be ranked on the basis of the descending initial price offer submitted by them and the technically qualified bidders holding the first fifty percent of the ranks (with any fraction rounded off to higher integer) or the top five technically qualified bidders, whichever is higher, shall qualify as qualified bidders for participating in the second round of electronic auction:
Jharkhand Gazette Ordinary Notification No.—24, dated—06 September,2017
Provided that where the total number of technically qualified bidders is less than three, then no technically qualified bidder shall be considered to be qualified bidder and the auction process shall be annulled:
Provided further that the Director, Mines /Deputy Commissioner may, in its discretion, decide not to annul the auction process if even in the third or subsequent attempt the total number of technically qualified bidders continues to be less than three and the Director, Mines/Deputy Commissioner may, in such case, decide to consider the technically qualified bidders as qualified bidders so as to continue with the bidding process:
Provided also that if the number of technically qualified bidders is between three and five, then all the technically qualified bidders shall be considered as qualified bidders:
Provided also that in the event of identical initial price offers being submitted by two or more technically qualified bidders, all such technically qualified bidders shall be assigned the same rank for the purposes of determination of qualified bidders and in such case, the aforementioned fifty percent shall stand enhanced to fifty percent plus the number of technically qualified bidders, whose initial price offers are identical less the number of such identical initial price offers
Illustration;
In the event there are a total of ten technically qualified bidders, and each technically qualified bidder submits different initial price offer, then the technically qualified bidders holding the first fifty percent of ranks shall be considered to be qualified bidders. If three such technically Jharkhand Gazette Ordinary Notification No.—24, dated—06 September,2017 qualified bidders submit the same initial price offer and are ranked in first fifty percent of the total number of ranks, then, all the three technically qualified bidders shall be considered to be qualified bidders and the total number of qualified bidders shall stand increased by two.
(b) Second Round of Auction to be held in the following manner, namely:-
(i) the qualified bidders may submit their final price offer which shall be a percentage of value of mineral despatched and greater than the floor price:
Provided that the final price offer may be revised till the conclusion of the auction as per the technical specifications of the auction platform;
(ii) The auction process shall be annulled if none of the qualified bidders submits a final price offer on the online electronic auction platform;
(iii) the qualified bidder who submits the highest final price offer shall be declared as the “preferred bidder” immediately on conclusion of the auction.
10. Grant of Mining Lease- (1) The preferred bidder shall submit the first installment being ten percent of the upfront payment as per rule 11.
(2) Upon receipt of the first instalment of the upfront payment, the Director, Mines / Deputy Commissioner shall issue a letter of intent to the preferred bidder.
(3) The preferred bidder shall be considered to be the “successful bidder” upon,-
(a) continuing to be in compliance with all the terms and conditions of eligibility;
(b) payment of the second instalment being ten per cent. of the upfront payment;
Jharkhand Gazette Ordinary Notification No.—24, dated—06 September,2017
(c) furnishing performance security as specified in rule 12;
(d) satisfying the conditions with respect to Mining Plan specified in Jharkhand Minor Mineral Concession Rules, 2004 as amended from time to time
(e) satisfying such other conditions as may be specified by the Director, Mines /Deputy Commissioner with the prior approval of the State Government.
(4) The successful bidder shall sign the Mine Development and Production Agreement with the Deputy Commissioner upon obtaining all consents, approvals, permits, no-objections and the like as may be required under applicable laws for commencement of mining operations.
(5) The successful bidder shall pay the third installment being eighty percent of the upfront payment subsequent to execution of the Mine Development and Production Agreement and upon such payment the Deputy Commissioner shall grant a mining lease to the successful bidder.
(6) The Mining Lease Deed shall be executed by the Deputy Commissioner within thirty days of the date of completion of the conditions specified in sub-rule (5) and shall be subject to the provisions of the Act and the rules made thereunder.
(7) The mining lease shall be for minerals found in the area pursuant to exploration/reserve estimated prior to the auction:
Provided that where, subsequent to the auction, any new mineral is discovered, then the holder of mining lease shall follow the provisions of the Jharkhand Minor Mineral Concession Rules, 2004 as amended from time to time for inclusion of such new mineral in the Mining Lease Deed.
(8) Where, prior to the auction or subsequent to the auction, presence of minor mineral is established or discovered, such minor minerals shall Jharkhand Gazette Ordinary Notification No.—24, dated—06 September,2017 be dealt in accordance with such rules made/to be made by the State Government under section 15.
(9) The date on which a duly executed Mining Lease Deed is registered shall be the date of commencement of the mining lease.
11. Upfront payment for mining lease- (1) An amount equal to 0.50% of the value of estimated resources shall be the upfront payment.
(2) The upfront payment shall be payable to the Director, Mines/Deputy Commissioner in three installments of ten percent; ten percent; and eighty percent as specified in the tender document and shall be adjusted in full against the amount paid under sub-rule (3) of rule 8 of these rules within the first five years of commencement of production of mineral as specified in the tender document.