‘Bauxite mining helpful for forests’

BHUBANESWAR: Vedanta Aluminium president and former Nalco CMD TK Chand said bauxite mining is not harmful and instead, is helpful in developing lush green forest.Addressing ‘Geomintech 2022’, a national conference of Mine and Mineral-based industries as the chief guest here, Chand said bauxite ore does not allow percolation of water and that is the reason why big and deep rooted trees do not grow in areas having bauxite.

Once the bauxite is removed, the soil becomes fertile and develops lush green forest, he said, citing the example of Damanjodi where reclaimed mining areas have thick green forest.He also suggested that there should be every effort to promote value addition and companies working on the entire value chain in the State should be supported by the government and society.

“Though Vedanta is not having any captive mines of bauxite yet it makes full value addition by purchasing bauxite and importing bauxite from outside,” he said.IIT, ISM Dhanbad Chairman Prof DD Mishra in his address appreciated the contribution of the mining industry in growth and development.

Large number of participants from mining and other industries across the country took part in the annual conference for which the theme was ‘New Equipment - New Technology Management and Safety in Mine and Mineral based Industries.’