Tamil Nadu villagers protest against tungsten mining lease awarded to Vedanta

Chennai: Hundreds of people from about 48 villages near Madurai held a protest on Thursday against awarding of an auction to Vedanta-owned Hindustan Zinc Limited to mine tungsten in about 5,000 acres of land.

They argued that the project would lead to “permanent ecological destruction” in their region, which was notified as the first Biodiversity Heritage Site of Tamil Nadu in 2022.

The protestors assembled outside the Vellimalayandi Swami Temple in A Vallalapatti village and decided to oppose the mining of tungsten, a refractory metal which is widely used in defence and medical industries, in the area. The tungsten block, which is located across 10 villages in Melur taluk of Madurai, is close to Arittapatti, a Biodiversity Heritage Site.

The development comes days after three MPs from Southern Tamil Nadu – Su Venkatesan (Madurai), Manickam Tagore (Virudhunagar), and Karti P Chidambaram (Sivaganga) – wrote Union Mines Minister G Kishan Reddy demanding that the auction process be halted immediately. The MPs also wanted Nayakkarpatti and its surrounding areas to be declared as eco-sensitive zones to safeguard their environmental and cultural integrity.

The protests are not just limited to tungsten mining but also to Vedanta, which has had a chequered history in Tamil Nadu as its group company Sterlite Copper was shut down in 2018 following the death of 13 people in police firing at people protesting against the company’s expansion plans.

“We want the ecology of this region to be protected. We believe tungsten mining will lead to destruction in our region. We want the auction to be cancelled. Moreover, we live in a biodiversity zone and it is not fair to disturb an ecologically-sensitive region,” a villager told DH over the phone.

The protest also comes a week after the Tamil Nadu government said it won’t allow tungsten mining in the area and will reject applications in this regard.

Arittapatti consists of a chain of seven barren granite hillocks and a distinctive landscape of rocky hills that acts as a watershed, supporting 72 lakes, 200 natural spring pools, and 3 check dams.

Hillocks in Arittapatti village have rich biological and historical significance with the presence of around 250 bird species, including 3 flagship Raptor species – Laggar Falcon (Falco jugger), Shaheen Falcon (Falco peregrines), and Bonelli's Eagle (Aquila fasciata). The village also features various megalithic structures, Tamil Brahmi inscriptions, Jain Beds, and 2200-year-old rock-cut temples.

A summary of the mineral block accessed by DH says the mines are located in Kulanipatti and Melur villages in Melur taluk and that the area is characterised by plain topography except some hillocks and elongated hills.

The opposition to the project comes weeks after the Supreme Court rejected Vedanta’s plea to reopen the now-shut copper smelter owned by its subsidiary Sterlite Copper in Thoothukudi.

The factory was shut in May 2018 after massive protests against the company’s expansion ended in the killing of 13 civilians by the police who fired indiscriminately against the agitators.