Govt mulls demarcating mining areas, to avoid another Niyamgiri
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COMMENTS 
A consensus of sorts appears to be emerging on better management of natural resources after political parties voice their opposition to the present system of mine allocation, prompting the Union government to identify areas of dense forest where mining will not be allowed
The Union government is planning to put in place a more transparent mining policy by designating parts of mineral-rich regions out of bounds for industry, because of environmental concerns.
The proposal has the backing of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), which has been taking an active interest in matters concerning mining and its impact on the environment. The PMO recently asked a group of ministers to prepare a national policy that would spell out areas that can be allowed for mining.
The plan is to divide the country’s mineral-rich regions into so-called ‘go’ and ‘no-go’ areas, replicating an exercise carried out by the environment ministry for the coal sector. The exercise, spelt out by the Ministry of Mines, in a note prepared a few days ago, will identify areas where mining can be carried out without causing serious environmental damage.
The note, which was prepared last week, will be reviewed by a group of ministers. The group, consisting of those with a stake in mining policy, includes the minister in charge of mining B K Handique, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Minister of State for Coal S P Jaiswal and Minister of State for the Environment Jairam Ramesh whose proactive intervention provoked the policy review.
Once cleared by this group, the policy will be notified.
The demarcation between mining and no-mining areas covers metallic minerals such as iron ore, bauxite and zinc, according to the note.
The mapping exercise proposed by the mines ministry will use data collected by the Indian Bureau of Mines, a body controlled by the ministry involved in the development of mineral resources and protecting the environment in mining areas.
The bureau is currently engaged in developing overlays or mining areas overlapping with thick forest cover. “This could be used as the basic input for adopting the ‘go’ and ‘no-go’ concept,” a ministry official said.
While such proposals have been mooted earlier, efforts to bring greater transparency into India’s notoriously opaque mining policy gained momentum after the environment ministry, on August 24, denied permission to Orissa Mining Corp to mine bauxite on the Niyamgiri hills.
The Niyamgiri bauxite was intended for Vedanta Aluminium, a joint venture partner of Orissa Mining Corp. However, the project faced stiff opposition from the local tribal population and from environmentalists who drummed up local and international support, resulting in the project being shelved.
“A lot of investment is coming into the metal sector. The ‘go’ and ‘no-go’ concept will prevent these projects from getting mining leases in areas where such operations face the possibility of being stopped on environmental and other grounds,” said the mines ministry official.
The mines ministry exercise will support the initiative proposed by the environment ministry to collate the density data of forest areas and put it on its website. This will enable organisations, including the Geological Survey of India, to prioritise areas for mineral exploration.
For existing mining operations, the official said the categorisation would only have minimal impact though some portion of expansion of existing mining operations may be impacted. “We are of the view that development projects, including mining in ‘no-go’ areas, should be considered subsequent to exhaustion of all options in ‘go’ areas,” the official said.
A recent study by the global research body BMO, that backs higher investment in mining-rich countries like India, says that among industrial commodities, copper, iron ore and metallurgical coal are the top picks because of expectations of strong demand in China.
Of the 89 minerals produced in the country, four are fuel minerals, 11 metallic, 52 non-metallic and 22 minor minerals. India is the largest producer of mica blocks and mica splitting; it ranks third in the production of coal and lignite, barytes and chromite. It is the fourth largest producer of iron ore, the sixth largest of bauxite and manganese ore, and the tenth largest producer of aluminium.
Meanwhile, Vedanta has begun efforts to get mining rights in other areas of Orissa, to run its 1-million-tonne plant at Lanjigarh.
Official sources said Vedanta has shown interest in the Gandhamardan hills in the undivided Bolangir district, the Sashu Bohu Mali hills in Koraput, Mali in Rayagada, and Rajendramali in Kalahandi.
During a meeting with state government officials, Vedanta representatives pointed out that, according to the memorandum of understanding, it was the duty of the state government to provide bauxite to the company. The MoU makes it binding on the state to provide 150 million tonnes of the mineral to the Lanjigarh plant.
The Lanjigarh plant has been operating with bauxite from Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh since August 2007. Vedanta had commissioned its plant hoping that the Centre would clear its proposal to mine the Niyamgiri hills, which would have enabled the company to expand its production capacity from 1 million tonnes to 6 million tonnes.
The company put forward its proposal before the state government after the Union Ministry for Environment and Forests recently denied it permission to mine in the Niyamgiri hills. This was based on the Saxena Committee report that unearthed several violations of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, the Environment Protection Act, 1966 and the Forest Rights Act, 2006.
Source: The Economic Times, August 30, 2010
The Telegraph, August 30, 2010
Press Trust of India, August 29, 2010