
The ore-starved Lanjigarh refinery of Vedanta Aluminium finally has something to rejoice. The Ministry of Environment and Forests has granted the final clearance for developing a new bauxite mine in the forest land adjoining Odisha’s Kodingamali plateau area.
A mining contractor has already been roped in to develop the mine slated to produce 3 million tonnes of bauxite a year.
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In September, Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) received stage II clearance for diversion of 435 hectares of forest land for developing the mine from the 81 million tonnes reserve amid protests by the villagers and a section of green revolutionists. But, the project is not taking off yet. It will go ahead once the other important green approval, the Environmental Clearance (EC) has been amended.
OMC has sought an amendment to the EC as it intends to build a road through the forest area for 800 trucks to carry 3.7 million tonnes of bauxite a year from the mine instead of the earlier-planned conveyor pipeline.
The amendment has already been recommended by the expert appraisal committee and “the EC is under process,” OMC managing Director R Vineel Krishna said.
"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.
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