Indian state-owned miner NMDC will extract 6,500 carats of diamonds, worth $3.4 million, from the Panna mine in Madhya Pradesh state, India, this fiscal year.
This follows the receipt of mining permits last year, according to a report from Reutersciting sources.
The company faced delays in obtaining environmental permits, which resulted in a suspension of mining operations for more than three years due to the mine’s proximity to a tiger reserve.
The Supreme Court subsequently granted NMDC permission to resume mining provided it adheres to specific guidelines, allowing the company to resume operations, according to the report.
While NMDC has not yet initiated any new rounds of mining, it is currently focused on extracting and processing diamonds from existing ore deposits at the Panna mine.
“In two to three months we will start extracting ore from the mines, and in the meantime diamonds are being processed by replenishing old stocks,” the company said in an email response. Reuters.
Since resuming operations, NMDC has extracted diamonds worth 3,700 carats, equivalent to $1.93 million, from the ore, the report said.
The Panna mine covers an area of 275.96 hectares and has been operational since the early 1970s, making it the “only mechanized diamond mine in India”.
Other global and domestic mining companies have also attempted to mine diamonds in the Bunder project, located near the Panna reserve, but with limited success.
Before leaving the Bunder project in 2016-2017, Rio Tinto invested approximately $90 million in the site over 14 years.
Since Rio Tinto’s departure, mining operations have not begun at the Bunder project, mainly due to concerns about its location in a forested area where tigers and other wildlife live.
“India’s NMDC to extract diamonds worth $3.4 million from mine near tiger reserve” was originally created and published by Mining Technology, a brand owned by GlobalData.
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