The Orissa government may be going slow on allotment of alternative bauxite mines to Vedanta Aluminium Limited (VAL) but the company has not given up hope and is now eyeing the Gandhamardhan bauxite deposits to feed its alumina refinery at Lanjigarh.
The company which has sought the expeditious allotment of bauxite mines is open to source bauxite from the state-owned Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC).
The Gandhamardhan bauxite mines are spread over Bargarh and Bolangir districts over an area of 2365 hectares with a reserve of 207 million tonnes. OMC which is a bonafide applicant for the Gandhamardhan mines, has been granted prospective license but the mining license is yet to be given due to pending forest clearance.
"We had discussions with VAL on the issue of allotment of alternative bauxite mines. The Gandhamardhan bauxite mines came up for discussion but we have stated the OMC which is a bonafide applicant for these mines, is yet to be issued the mining license due to pending forest clearance.
The company has to wait till all statutory clearances are obtained”, state minister for industries and steel & mines Raghunath Mohanty told reporters.
"The company has not submitted any fresh application for bauxite mines. Regarding allotment of alternative mines to VAL, the state government is examining the matter and a decision will be taken as per the statutory guidelines and procedures”, he added.
Asked if the Orissa government would move the Supreme Court of India over the cancellation of Stage-II forest clearance for proposed bauxite mining by VAL at Niyamgiri hills, he said, a decision in this connection will be taken by OMC.
Mukesh Kumar, chief operating officer (Lanjigarh) of VAL said, “We have not made any fresh application for bauxite mines and are open to take bauxite from OMC. Our discussion with the minister on the issue of allotment of alternative bauxite mines was fruitful.”
There are seven bauxite mines which we had earlier applied for and we only want that the process of allotment of alternative bauxite mines needs to be expedited, he stated.
Responding to a query on whether VAL was contemplating to move the Supreme Court over the rejection of Stage-II forest clearance, Kumar said, VAL cannot approach the Supreme Court on this matter as the Niyamgiri mines are under the leasehold of OMC.
Out of seven alternative bauxite mines sought by Vedanta, five were in Rayagada district with the remaining two in Kalahandi district. The five mines being eyed by VAL in Rayagad district include Sarambai, Malipadar & Kutamal spread over 177.694 hectares; Siadimal spread over 4.95 hectares; Badamaribhata on 4.89 hectares; Kutamal and Kashipur spread over 4.966 hectares and Kutamal on 4.98 hectares.
In Kalahandi district, the company had applied for two mines- Punjam, Raipadar and Ranapur over 580.43 hectares and Kariapat, Salpara and Jilgaon on 3172.74 hectares.
As per the MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) signed between the state government and the company, the state had assured to make arrangements for supply of 150 million tonnes of bauxite.
The bauxite mines at Niyamgiri hills had reserves of 75 million tonnes which would last for four years as VAL had announced to scale up capacity of its refinery from one million tonne (mtpa) per annum to six mtpa and the company needed 18 mtpa of bauxite to meet its capacity expansion.
