The bidding process and ownership obligations are probably just convoluted enough to dissuade the small players. You see this sort of thing all the time when a

The bidding process and ownership obligations are probably just convoluted enough to dissuade the small players. You see this sort of thing all the time when all manner of goods, equipment or land goes to public auction. A small player would jump at the chance to buy a mine for cheap if they were reasonably confident they could actually walk out of the deal owning a mine for cheap.