ABSTRACT
The public abhors the mining industry because of the environmental damage it causes. So the most important goal of the basic research, and R&D has to be to minimize the adverse environmental impact of the mining industry. In the Indian context, most of the deposits of iron ore, manganese ore, bauxite etc. are located in the forest areas that are inhabited by adivasis (tribal people) who have a strong attachment to land, and worship some promontories as sacred. Bastar District in Central India, has huge deposits of iron ore, and tribals live there. The mining of the iron ore by the National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) displaced the tribals. At a later stage, when theGovt. of India offered to provide them compensation, the tribal leader refused it, saying, “Land is my Mother. I will not sell my Mother’’. All mining companies are signatories to the UNEP’s International Declaration of
Cleaner Production. In June 2000, UNEP set up the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Sustainability Reporting Guidelines, to which all the mining companies agreed to adhere. The vision of UNEP (Hoskin, 2001) to achieve environmentally – sustainable mining industry in the early part of the twenty-first century, has the following components:
1. Recycling of metals should approach 100% – recycling of metals reduces disposal pressures, and results in great energy savings. The limited amount of virgin metal that may be needed should be obtained from highest-grade reserves.
