Despite demands to revive the Bharat Gold Mines (BGML) in Kolar Gold Fields in Karnataka, the Ministry of Mines on Thursday invited bids from consultancy firms to serve as “service provider” for the proposed sale of the firm through competitive bidding route.
“BGML intends to offer for sale the assets of the company like land, buildings, gold ore, reserves/resources, tailing dumps, plants and machinery, equipment etc, located in Kolar Gold Fields, Karnataka; Bisnatham Mine and Chitargunta Mines in Chittoor District and Ramagri Mines in Ananthapur District of Andhra Pradesh, through global competitive bidding route,” the Mines Ministry said on its website.
“BGML intends to select and appoint a service provider for this purpose,” it said, inviting bids from merchant
and investment banks and consultancy firms. The role of the service provider would be to assist in the selection of a bidder for the assets through global bid process and help the BGML in finalising and executing an agreement for transfer of the assets to the successful bidder, it said.
In 2008, BGML had prepared a bid document to invite interested companies through global tender but it did not succeed as it got entangled in litigation. The decks for reopening the BGML were clear following a recent Supreme Court judgement.
The Supreme Court approved the Ministry of Mines decision to invite global tenders for re-starting BGML. The Kolar Gold Fields (KGF), which was nationalised in 1956 and handed over to state-run Bharat Gold Mines Ltd (BGML), were shut down in 2001 after its operation became unviable due to low prices.