Mining ban in forested areas likely, says report

The government is planning to put in place a more transparent mining policy by designating parts of mineral-rich regions as out of bounds for industry because of environmental concerns.

The move is aimed at avoiding episodes such as the recent ban on Vedanta's bauxite mining at in the Niyamgiri hills in Orissa, according to a report.

The plan is to divide the country's mineral-rich regions into so-called 'go' and 'no-go' areas, replicating a similar exercise carried out by the environment ministry for the coal sector, says The Economic Times. The exercise, spelt out by the ministry of mines in a note prepared a few days ago, is to identify areas where mining could be carried out without causing serious environmental damage. The exercise is meant to identify areas of dense forest cover where mining will not be allowed.

The note, which was prepared last week and which the newspaper says it has seen, will be reviewed by a group of ministers. The group, consisting of those ministers with a stake in mining policy, includes 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 environment and forests Jairam Ramesh, whose activism has 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.

While such proposals have been mooted earlier, efforts to bring in greater transparency into India's notoriously opaque mining policy gained momentum after the environment ministry on 24 August 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.