Maliparbat bauxite mine

Maliparbat bauxite mine

Subject : Geography

Context: The  maliparbat villagers clashed with the district administration and Hindalco officials during a public hearing by the State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) at Kankaramba village on environmental clearances (EC) to the company for mining. The  next public hearing that will be presided over by the collector and the district judge, Koraput and the secretary, district legal services authority, Koraput will remain present as neutral observers for the event.

Concept:

• The bauxite mine at Maliparbat hill range is located in Pottangi tehsil of Koraput district of Odisha. The bauxite mined out from the Maliparbat mine will be used in existing Hindalco’s Alumina refineries located at Renukoot (Uttar Pradesh), Muri (Jharkhand) & Belgaum (Karnataka).
• The Nearest highway is  NH-43, the Nearest railway station Damanjodi ,Nearest airport Visakhapatnam Airport
• Some rivers in  the 5km range are Kukurhaghat Nala, Kunduli Nala,  Kolab River
• Hindalco Industries is one of the leading producers of aluminium in the country. The company business involves bauxite mining to alumina refining.Hindalco Industries was granted EC for an area of 268.110 hectares of Maliparbat bauxite mine in 2006.

About Bauxite –

• Bauxite is an important ore that is used for making aluminium. It is an oxide of aluminium. It is not a specific mineral but a rock consisting mainly of hydrated aluminium oxides.
• The deposits of Bauxite are mainly associated with laterites and occur as capping on hills and plateaus, except in coastal areas of Gujarat and Goa.
• Production of Aluminium from Bauxite: This industry is divided into 2 segments. The plants for obtaining alumina from bauxite ore, such plants are located near bauxite mines and plants for reduction of Alumina into Aluminium, such plants are located near the cheap source of electricity.
• Bauxite is primarily used to produce alumina through the Bayer process.
• Like many metals, world demand for aluminium, and therefore bauxite, has grown substantially over the past 10 years in response to economic growth in emerging Asian economies.

Distribution of Bauxite in the world

• The world bauxite reserves are estimated at 28 billion tonnes and are located mainly in Guinea (26%), Australia (22%), Brazil (9%), Vietnam (8%), Jamaica (7%), Indonesia (4%), Guyana & China (3% each).
• Australia continues to be the major producer of Bauxite and accounts for about 30% share in total world production, followed by China (25%), Brazil (14%), India (8%) and Guinea (7%).

Deposits of Bauxite in India

• There are abundant bauxite reserves in the country. However since they are located in heavily forested areas, inhabited by indigenous people; mining has been unable to start in these regions.
• By States, Odisha alone accounts for 53% of country’s resources of bauxite. The ranking of states in terms of bauxite resources is as following

1. Odisha (53%)
2. Andhra Pradesh (16%)
3. Gujarat (8%)
4. Jharkhand (5%)
5. Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh (4% each).