Rio Tinto gets nod for MP diamond mine

Australian mining giant Rio Tinto has received in-principle approval from the Union Ministry of Mines to begin diamond mining operations in Madhya Pradesh.

Rio Tinto’s maiden venture in India — in the form of a diamond mine — will come up in the Bunder region of the state where the company had established a diamond prospect way back in 2004.
That year, Rio Tinto had established diamond reserves after a regional exploration reconnaissance in the state.

In September 2006, the state and Rio Tinto signed up a prospecting licence, which allowed exploration activities to continue, and an ‘order of magnitude’ study was commenced to evaluate the viability of the project.

Calls made to Rio Tinto Diamond’s India representative office were not returned. But  a company source said: “The in-principle approval will result in getting the mining lease from the state government and then we can start the process of getting all the other clearances required to develop the mine.”

According to the company’s website, the Bunder project comprises eight lamproites (volcanic and sub-volcanic rocks) and has an inferred resource of 27.4 million carats and the target for diamond mineralisation would be of 40-70 million tonnes at a grade of between 0.3 and 0.7 carats per tonne, which apparently is three times the grade in the Panna mine run NMDC Ltd, the country’s biggest miner.

“Currently, we are not working on anything at the site as further approvals from the state are awaited,” said Nicklesh Senapati, managing director, Rio Tinto India.

He said the company is still firm on the investment plan and nothing has been changed or revised in the last few years.