Centre puts tungsten mining in Tamil Nadu on hold
The Ministry of Mines on Tuesday requested the Tamil Nadu government to keep the process of issuing the Letter of Intent (LoI) to the preferred bidder, Hindustan Zinc Limited, for mining of tungsten in Nayakkarpatti Tungsten Block in Madurai on hold.
It has cited objections relating to auctioning of the block over the existence of biodiversity heritage site within block area.
The Geological Survey of India (GSI) has been asked to explore the possibility of redefining the block boundary by excluding the biodiversity site, a press statement issued by the ministry on Tuesday said.
The ministry’s announcement has come two weeks after Tamil Nadu Assembly on December 9 unanimously adopted a resolution urging the centre to immediately cancel the tungsten mining rights given to Hindustan Zinc Limited and not to grant any mining licence in the future without the permission of the state government.
Speaking in the Assembly, Chief Minister MK Stalin had declared that as long as he is the CM, the state government will never allow tungsten mining in Madurai district. The chief minister had also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to cancel the award of tungsten mining rights.
The mines ministry had earlier said that inputs were taken from the Tamil Nadu government before the auction of the tungsten block and no communication from any quarter, including from the state, regarding any opposition to the tender was received.