RAPAPORT... India will auction the Bunder diamond-mining project or allocate it to a state firm after Rio Tinto pulled out of the venture earlier this month, Reuters reported.
"Bunder is one of the best deposits in India and we would like to make sure that it is tapped,” Balvinder Kumar, India’s Mines Secretary, was cited by the news service as saying. Rio Tinto will work with the government on the future of Bunder and was "looking at options for a third-party investor to carry forward the development of the project,” the official added.
Kumar will talk with parties interested in the project when Rio Tinto formally hands it back to the state government of Madhya Pradesh, where it is located. Madhya Pradesh already has a large amount of data on the mine that can be shared with potential bidders or a government company willing to develop it, he pointed out.
Image: Copyright © 2016 Rio Tinto
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