Govt blocks Vedanta Odisha mining plan

India has blocked Vedanta Resources Plc from mining in a hill range that holds bauxite earmarked for an $8.1 billion aluminum complex in Odisha following objections by local tribes. "We rejected it after the local panchayats rejected," environment minister Veerappa Moily said in New Delhi on Sunday, referring to village-level governance bodies. "That's what we're doing for most projects," Moily said, adding he recently permitted some worth $24.4 billion.

The environment ministry's decision adds to billionaire Anil Agarwal's troubles in India's metals industry.

London-listed Vedanta has 1.25 million metric tonnes of new aluminum refining capacity lying idle because of a lack of bauxite.
 

"This is the end of the Niyamgiri project," Goutam Chakraborty, a Mumbai-based research analyst at Emkay Global Financial Services Ltd, said. "Even if Vedanta looks at new mines for sourcing bauxite, it will take them at least four to five years."

Pavan Kaushik, a spokesperson at Vedanta Resources, didn't respond to two calls on his mobile phone seeking comment. All 12 villages in the Niyamgiri area in the eastern state inhabited by the Dongaria and Kutia tribes believe their god lives in the Niyamgiri hills and have rejected the incentives offered in exchange for mining approval.