The Odisha government will offer long term ore linkage for iron ore, chrome, bauxite and limestone, mined and produced by the Odisha Mineral Corporation (OMC). The ore linkage will be for investors or companies that sets up end-use plants (greenfield/expansion), which are with or without mechanised evacuation systems.

Odisha produces 55 per cent of India’s iron ore and all the chrome ore available in the country. It has one-third of the iron ore reserves, over 50 per cent of the bauxite reserves, and 90 per cent of India’s chromite reserves.

The long term linkage will be for a period of five years. It will have provisions for annual review across parameters such as off-take regularity, ability to make payments on-time and other factors and at the end of the first five years, the linkage can be extendable for another five years subject to availability of the ores.

Under the policy, 80 per cent of the saleable stock will be under long term linkage. If an allottee does not pick up the entire quantity, the balance will be put up for the auctions. The exact quantity of saleable stock to be earmarked for long term auctions will be determined by the State-run mineral corporation. Weighted average price determined at the e-auction will be the linkage price, document accessed by businessline shows.

According to the policy document, such long term linkage will also be provided to existing plants in the State who are willing to make “substantial investments in mechanised ore evacuation system” from OMC’s mines. State-based end-user plants, who already have long-term linkage, are allowed to participate in OMC’s national e-auction.

The new linkage policy, which came into effect at the end-of-June, is applicable to those investors whose proposals have been approved by the State Level Single Window Clearance Authority (SLSWCA) or the High Level Clearance Authority (HLCA).

For FY25, OMC has set a target production of 50 million tonnes per annum (mtpa), up nearly 50 per cent from the 33.6 mt achieved in FY23.

Allocation committee

The amount or quantity to be dispatched under the new linkage policy will be determined by an allocation committee headed by the Secretary, Steel and Mines Department.

Minerals remaining unsold after supply to long term buyers, providing for previous supply commitments and after e-auctions, are to be disposed of in a manner deemed fit by the OMC, including tapping export markets. Canalising agencies like MMTC can also be tapped for the sale of the unsold minerals.

“In order to provide the impetus for conversion of primary metals to downstream finished products, it has become even more critical now to ensure raw material security to important metals downstream and ancillary units,” says a notification by the State government.

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