New Delhi: The first diamond mines' auction in the country are due to take place next month, Mines Secretary Balvinder Kumar said on Friday.
Madhya Pradesh will publish notices next week inviting tenders to auction diamond mines in Panna district, he said.
"The mines that are in the vicinity of NMDC's (National Mineral Development Corp) Panna mines, will be auctioned by next month," Kumar told IANS.
Following issue of the notice, the tender process takes around 3 weeks, he added.
The block for auction, spread over an area of 136 hectares, has more than 6 lakh tonnes of mineral resources.
State-run NMDC produces around 81,000 carats of diamonds annually from its Majhgawan mine at Panna.