Vedanta Resources

This article is part of the Mining and Metals project of Spinwatch

Vedanta Resources is an Indian owned and London Stock Exchange registered FTSE 100 listed mining and metals company. It is one of the fastest growing and most controversial mining companies in the world. Vedanta and it's subsidiaries Vedanta Aluminium, Sterlite, Sesa Goa and BALCO operates copper, zinc, iron, coal and aluminium mining in India, Zambia and Australia.

India

Vedanta's main operations are in India and their main interests are in the mineral rich state of Orissa, where over 50% of India's total bauxite deposits, worth billions of dollars, are found. They have been accused of a number of environmental and human rights crimes which are briefly summarised here with links:

Niyamgiri

In 2004 Vedanta (initially via it's subsidiary Sterlite) have been attempting to get a license to mine the Niyamgiri mountains for the 73 million tonnes of bauxite found at the mountain's flat top. They plan to process 1 million tonnes per year at the Lanjigarh refinery, which they built below the mountain before getting any permission to mine the mountain. The project has become a major international issue due to the threat of mining to the Dongia Kondh tribe who would consider the mountain sacred and would be displaced by the mining.

Corporate Watch have documented the involvement of the UK's Department for International Development in bringing the mine to Orissa in their series on 'dodgy development'. They also provide a good summary of the issues as they stood in early 2010.

on August 24th 2010 the Indian Government's Saxena Report accused Vedanta of 'flouting environmental laws' at Niyamgiri, as a result of which permission to mine was denied by environment minister Jairam Ramesh who refused forest clearance, and subsequently also environmental clearance in July 2011 . Ramesh cited multiple counts of environmental violations including illegal occupation of forestry and inadequate resettlement of displaced people.

However, the company are not willing to give up, especially having already built the Lanjigarh refinery, which is currently operating at break even at 1 million tonnes per year, awaiting the six fold expansion it plans with Niyamgiri bauxite. Vedanta are appealing the refusal to mine in the Indian High Court and also plan to re-submit the application to mine, stressing the involvement of the state-owned Orissa Mining Corporation as main applicants for the mining lease. In July 2011, shortly before the company's AGM in London, a government re-shuffle transferred the previous environment minister Jairam Ramesh for Jayanthi Natarajan who promised in an interview to CNN-IBN Vedanta that ‘the past is over’ and ‘speedy decisions will be ensured’ for ‘major projects’ such as those of Vedanta .

Vedanta has a number of friends in the Indian government, including home minister P. Chidambaram- a former director of Vedanta, who stepped down a day before becoming Finance Minister in 2004.

People

• Anil Agarwal Founder, Chairman and 62% shareholder.