See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=11462&l=1.

See http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-01-19/bhubaneswar/30642318_1_review-petition-vedanta-aluminum-alumina-refinery.

Now, a civil society organization (Odisha Water Initiatives – OWI) which pledges to protect water supplies for the people of Orissa (Odisha), provided evidence of numerous instances where the company illegally extracted water from rivers and reservoirs.

But, even when fined for these violations, the company failed to pay the penalties – now amounting to some US$2 million.

See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=11395.

Kazakhmys is the world’s 10th-largest copper miner, while Eurasian Natural Resources Corp is the world’s largest ferrochrome producer and a major producer of iron ore, alumina and aluminium. Both companies are listed in London.

Glencore-controlled Kazzinc, formed in 1997 by the merger of three lead and zinc plants, is the largest zinc producer in the former Soviet Union. It also mines precious metals and copper.

See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=11271&l=1.

See http://www.internationalrivers.org/blog/lori-pottinger/2011-9-26/africas-energy-future-heading-down-dark-tunnel.

The Cuttack bench of the Orissa High Court backed the environment ministry and ordered that Vedanta would have to apply afresh for a clearance for expansion if it wants to.

See http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-09-17/india/30168402_1_bauxite-mining-project-environment-clearance-vedanta.

The Corus Group has also been looking at opportunities to set up aluminium manufacturing facilities in Orissa. Officials said Corus is examining the possibility of setting up a value added aluminium production facility in Orissa.

Rio Tinto has also been negotiating since 1995 with the state government to develop iron ore deposits in a joint venture.

See http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page72068?oid=134138&sn=Detail&pid=102055.

The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited Vedanta to respond.  Its response is available on the Business and Human Rights website.

Amnesty International then issued a follow-up statement.

See http://www.business-humanrights.org/media/documents/amnesty-rejoinder-vedanta-aug-2011.doc.

The information could cause severe embarrassment to the company, showing that it pays far less for electricity than ordinary South Africans, who suffer fromm high prices and problems of supply.

See http://www.miningweekly.com/article/bhp-billiton-weighs-legal-options-after-eskom-ruling-2011-08-05-1.

photo: Kerima Mohideen

Vedanta bosses clash with protesters over pollution and human rights

Anger erupted inside and outside Vedanta’s annual meeting on Wednesday as campaigners protested against the mining company’s environmental and human rights record. The London Mining Network says Vedanta’s record has not markedly improved, with 26 fatalities at its mines reported last year and a waste dump in Goa overflowing this month. “As a result, millions of tonnes of mud and silt flooded into the [Goan] village of Mulgao, swamping farmland, choking rivers and threatening people’s livelihoods,” said an LMN spokesman. Vedanta has offered to compensate farmers.

See http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/jul/27/vedanta-protests-annual-meeting-pollution-human-rights?INTCMP=SRCH.

Vedanta faces angry protesters at AGM

India-focused miner Vedanta faced two hours of angry questioning on Wednesday, as its board was forced to defend the company against accusations from investors and pressure groups that it has repeatedly breached health and environmental rules. Pressure groups including Survival International, Amnesty International and others have long opposed a projected bauxite mine in India’s Orissa state, planned for an area considered sacred by indigenous people, as well as proposals to increase capacity at Vedanta’s Lanjigarh alumina refinery to 6 million tonnes per year from 1 million.

See http://af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews/idAFL6E7IR2E220110727.

Protesters demand action against Vedanta

Shareholders of Vedanta Resources, a FTSE 100 company that has been embroiled in a row over its activities in India, were on Tuesday booed by protesters gathered outside the venue of its Annual General Meeting in Westminster. They called for its expulsion from India and an investigation into its trade practices and human rights record.

See http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2300115.ece

Read notes of the AGM from an eye witness.

photo: Kerima Mohideen

photo: Kerima Mohideen

Matters of grave concern: Vedanta Collapses

Taking place here today (27 July 2011) is the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting of one of the world’s 20 leading mining companies, London-listed Vedanta Resources plc.

This company stands apart from its peers by having the worst health, safety and environment record of any mining company based in the UK – indeed virtually anywhere in the world.

We invite you to examine some of the accidents and disasters occurring on Vedanta’s watch within the past five years; the latest just eleven days ago:

16 July 2011: A waste dump at a Vedanta iron ore mine in Goa (India) collapses in numerous places: millions of tonnes of mud and silt flood into the village of Mulgao, swamping farmland, choking rivers and threatening people’s lives.

5 April 2011: Toxic wastes cascade from a breach in Vedanta’s caustic red mud pond at its Lanjigarh alumina refinery in Orissa (India), contaminating the adjacent Vamsadhara River.
16 May 2011: There’s a “copycat” failure at the same pond. Amnesty International warns that “thousands of families in…Orissa are [now] facing serious health risks during the imminent monsoon season.”
In July 2011, the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh says the pollution has crossed the state border and “people in many mandals [administrative divisions] of Srikakulam district are facing health hazards due to contaminated drinking water.”

1 November 2010: Vedanta’s subsidiary, Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) in Zambia is fined for polluting the Kafue River, killing fish and leaving local inhabitants without tap water. This is the very river polluted by Vedanta four years earlier.
On 6 November 2006, acidified effluents cascaded from burst slurry pipelines at KCM. They gushed into the Kafue River, raising its copper concentrations to 1,000% of acceptable levels, concentrations of manganese to 77,000% (sic) of the legal limit; and those of cobalt to 10,000%. Domestic water supplies are cut off for 75,000 residents in the town of Chingola.
26 March 2010: Four workers die when ground collapses around them at Vedanta’s Nchanga copper mill in Zambia.

24 September 2009: A chimney, under construction for a coal-fired power plant at Vedanta’s Korba aluminium complex in India’s Chhattisgarh state, topples to the ground.  At least 41 workers are buried alive. Vedanta is accused by Korba’s police chief of illegally embarking on the construction at the outset. Three top Vedanta officials are arrested and charged with “culpable homicide” – one degree below murder.
In October 2010, Vedanta’s chairman, Anil Agarwal, is summoned to give evidence at the Korba District Court in answer to a charge of Criminal Trespass relating to the previous year’s events. He refuses to attend.

24 August 2009:  During heavy rains, a vast mudslide sweeps into underground workings of Vedanta’s Mt Lyell copper mine in Tasmania, Australia. The mine is closed, leaving 180 workers and their dependents stranded without paid leave.

Collapse of Vedanta’s credibility

Between November 2007 and 2011 a significant number of investment funds ejected Vedanta Resources from their portfolios, citing the company’s unethical behaviour and its failure to address human rights and environmental issues.

Among these were: Norway’s Government Pension Fund; the Church of England; PGGM (a major Dutch Pension Fund); the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust; and Northwest and Ethical Investments (Canada).

If you, your Pension Fund or Bank, currently finance Vedanta in any way, we urge that you seriously examine evidence of the company’s woeful failure to meet rudimentary operational standards, during the eight years since its admission to trading on the London Stock Exchange.

Norway’s Council on Ethics in November 2007 concluded that, continuing to invest in Vedanta would present “an unacceptable risk of contributing to grossly unethical activities.”

Since then, such activities have multiplied. So, too, have the reputational risks of backing a company that makes a mockery of “corporate social responsibility.”

For further information on Vedanta’s record, please see:
http://www.minesandcommunities.org/list.php?r=831

This leaflet was authored by Nostromo Research
for London Mining Network,
http://londonminingnetwork.org
Phone 07929 023214
Email contact@londonminingnetwork.org

See http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/vedanta-may-apply-afresh-for-green-nod/443543/.

Ongoing attempts by UK-based mining company Vedanta Resources to overturn an Indian government decision blocking a proposed bauxite mine and expansion of an alumina refinery in Orissa should not be allowed to succeed, new report by Amnesty International says.

The report, Generalisations, Omissions, Assumptions, reveals that the company has failed to adequately consider the human impact of its proposed projects with an investment of US$ 1,7 billion in Orissa.

See http://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/india-vedanta-orissa-projects-ban-must-be-upheld-2011-07-24.

See http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/No-environment-clearance-for-Vedanta-Centre-tells-green-tribunal/articleshow/9318453.cms.

Vedanta Aluminium challenged the Ministry of Environment and Forest’s decision in the high court on November 2010.

See http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/orissa-high-court-rejects-vedanta-refinery-expansion-2011-07-19.

See also: Court rejects Vedanta plea for alumina refinery expansion, http://www.daijiworld.com/news/news_disp.asp?n_id=108901.