Rayagada / Bhubaneshwar | Oct 18, 2017: The government has granted final forest clearance to develop a new bauxite mine in Odisha, which can potentially bring significant relief to Vedanta's ore-starved Lanjigarh refinery that is importing raw material despite being located in the mineral-rich state.
The environment ministry has granted forest clearance to state-run Odisha Mining Corp's (OMC) mine located in the state's Kodingamali plateau that can produce 3 million tonne a year from its reserves of 81 million tonne.
On September 25, the environment ministry sent a note allowing OMC to divert 435 hectares of forest land although environmentalists and some villagers are opposing it.
The project is likely to go ahead as the other important green approval, the environmental clearance (EC), is also expected. This clearance was granted in 2008, when the mine was meant to feed a now-shelved alumina refinery that was planned 3 km away. OMC has now sought an amendment to the EC because it now wants to build a road for 800 trucks to carry 3.7 million tonne of material a year from the mine instead of the conveyor pipeline planned earlier.
The expert appraisal committee has already recommended the amendment and "the EC is under process," says OMC Managing Director R Vineel Krishna.
Some villagers in Kashipur and Laxmipur who had given their consent earlier, when a refinery was planned near the mine, are again opposing the project. Activists say fresh gram sabhas must be held since scope of the project has changed considerably.
OMC argues that their interest is limited to the deposit to which it had mining rights since the nineties. "All statutory procedures have been followed, as required by the laws and authorities concerned," OMC MD Krishna told ET.
For Vedanta, the project offers hope. "Once mining starts at Kodingamali and tendering of raw material begins we will participate as one of the contenders. That's a far better proposition from our current situation," Vedanta's CEO for Aluminium & Power Abhijit Pati said on the sidelines of a conference in Bhubaneshwar.
The company hopes to get bauxite from new sources in the state. "Post MMDR Act 2015 amendment we believe that state and central government is working to bring blocks for auction and Odisha has the largest reserves of bauxite in the country.
We look forward to participate in the auctions," said the company spokesperson in an emailed reply to ET. Minister for Mines and Steel Prafulla Kumar Mallik says bauxite when produced will be made available to the market as iron ore and chromite is under state policies, through long-term linkages and auctions.
To exploit the bauxite scattered on plateaus of Eastern Ghats of the undivided Koraput- Bolangir- Kalahandi (KBK) district, Odisha had identified some of the larger bauxite deposits — Baphilimalli, Panchpatmali, Niyamgiri, Kodingamali — for specific refinery projects, even though sometimes mining rights rested with OMC. In 2000 it transferred the 200 million tonne Baphilimalli deposit to Hindalco, which uses it for the Utkal Alumina Refinery.
Two joint venture companies — one controlled by Hindalco and another by Vedanta with a 76% stake each — were to develop bauxite deposits, but the state shelved the plans two years ago and OMC decided to develop the Kodingamali mine on its own.
In August, Nilakantha Jhodia, a sarpanch from Puhundi, and representative from eight other affected villages resolved to oppose mining at Kodingamalli. "We agreed to sell our lands for a specific purpose — for a plant to be built here, not to have our minerals taken away for nothing," says Jhodia.
Laxmipur MLA, Kailash Chandra Kulesika, also a land loser, says "people waited patiently for this project for 10 years and only began harvesting the land last year. The last hearing conducted was for the road leading to the mine, which OMC decided to build through Champi gram panchayat on the other side of the hill, knowing very well we would object," says the Congress MLA.
Prafulla Samantra, a well-known activist associated with the protests in Niyamgiri, has raised concerns with the environment ministry. "As Kodingamali Hills is in scheduled area and tribals have habitat rights of this hill, the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996, the Forest Rights Act, 2006 and the provisions in the Schedule V of the Constitution have to be followed before allotting mines or diversion of forest for Vedanta or any other company or corporation including OMC. Public hearing as per the law has to be held for fresh environmental clearance," he wrote to the ministry in February this year.
(Source: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/)