What’s the row over tungsten mining in Madurai?

The story so far: The Ministry of Mines recently announced it had granted tungsten mining rights to Hindustan Zinc Limited, a subsidiary of Vedanta Limited, through an auction on November 7. Stalin urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to cancel the mining rights awarded to the private firm before announcing that the State government would pass a resolution to cancel mining rights. Mugilan, an environmental activist known for his protest against projects like Sterlite, Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, hydrocarbon Project in Neduvasal, and Neutrino project, said, “Vedanta — the company that won the auction for tungsten mining, is known for pollution practices at its copper smelting unit in Thoothukudi.” Highlighting issues from the climate change perspective, Poovulagin Nanbargal, an environmental organisation based in Tamil Nadu, notes that the tailings when stored after the mining extraction, would release heavy metals like copper, cadmium, zinc, lead, arsenic, and would be detrimental to humans and the environment. Though the State government says it vehemently opposed the mining of tungsten block in Melur, the Union government alleges: “Since February 2024, when the block was first put to auction till the declaration of result of the auction of November 11, there was no communication from any quarter including the State government regarding any opposition to the auction.