• Sacred mountain bauxite will be used for missiles
• Campaigners press for ethical rethink on share stake
See http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/aug/02/vedanta-mining-environment-development.
This information was in fact published no less than eight years ago by the Kolkata-based Telegraph.
It was also cited in Mines and Communities’ first major analysis of Vedanta (Vedanta – the Panto!) – which appeared on the MAC website in January 2004, just after the company was listed on the London Stock Exchange.
The allegations were also mentioned in a 2006 report by Felix Padel and Samarendra Das – again published on MAC. See: http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=40.
Here are the relevant paragraphs from Vedanta – the Panto!:
“Another critical issue (though seemingly since lost in the shuffle) was raised at this time by the Kolkota (Calcutta)-based Telegraph. The newspaper claimed there were documents showing that Balco produced special lightweight aluminium alloys used in India’s Prithvi and Agni series of intermediate nuclear missiles and rocket components; Balco allegedly supplied the casings for India’s nuclear tests of 1998. The company was ‘bound by a supply-and-production agreement with the Department of Defence Supplies to keep this technology secret’.
“The agreement (S. NO 1(3)/90/T(SI)/CPO(VG)-1645) also bound to secrecy, not only metallurgists who helped develop the alloys, but also “all scientists, engineers, other officers and technical hands who came to know about the technology, its use or manufacture.” An obvious fear was that, by selling the company to Sterlite, details of the technology might be leaked to outsiders.”
See: http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=70.