Bhubaneswar: Seven mining companies are in race for Mahulsukha iron ore and manganese mines in Odisha as the State government is set to pick up a developer for the mines on Saturday through auction process.

The seven short listed companies are TP Sao, LTA, GV Mines, Freegrade, Yazdani, Patnaik Minerals and Shyam Ore. Sao has filed the IPO quoting highest 77% followed by LTA 76.70%, GV Mines 76.70%, Freegrade 76.15%, Yazdani 57.55%, Patnaik Minerals 57% and Shyam Ore 56%.

Meanwhile, Kolkata-based Khatua Narbheram & Co. has retained its the Koida-2 iron ore mines by offering 90.90%. There were nine companies in the race for Koida-2. In race were Shyam Steel Super Smelter, Bhagabati Power, API Ispat, Sree Bajarang Steels, RP Sao, Shyam SEL and Gallent Ispat. The bidding process for the mines was completed on Friday.

The Koida-2 mines, spreading over 74.867 hectares, promises 27.188 million pig iron grade iron ores.