Centre asks GSI to explore the possibility of redefining boundaries of Nayakkarpatti tungsten block in Madurai to exclude biodiversity heritage site area

Union Ministry of Mines requests GSI to re-examine Nayakkarpatti tungsten block in Madurai amid concerns over biodiversity heritage site.

The Union Ministry of Mines on Tuesday requested the Geological Survey of India (GSI) to re-examine the Nayakkarpatti tungsten block in Madurai, which comprises six villages, including Arittapatti, a notified biodiversity heritage site famous for archaeological monuments.

It also suggested that the GSI explore the possibility of redefining the boundaries by excluding the biodiversity heritage site from the block, and requested the Tamil Nadu government to keep the process of issuing the Letter of Intent to the preferred bidder – Hindustan Zinc Limited – on hold for the time being.

The decision was taken considering the number of representations received against auctioning the block that includes Arittapatti. Further, the Union Ministry alleged that though the Tamil Nadu government had informed it about the existence of the biodiversity site covering an area of 193.215 hectares – about 10% of the total area of the block – it did not recommend against auctioning the block.

“When the block was initially put up for auction in February 2024, till the auction result was declared on November 7, 2024, there was no communication from the State government regarding any opposition or concerns about the auction despite the fact that Tamil Nadu attended several auction-related meetings of the Ministry of Mines,” an official press release said.

The GSI handed over the Geological Memorandum for tungsten in Madurai district to the Tamil Nadu government in September 2021, as the State government was, at the time, empowered to auction all major minerals, including critical minerals such as tungsten. The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957, was amended in 2023, which empowered the Centre to exclusively auction mining leases and composite licenses in respect of ‘critical and strategic minerals’, including tungsten, the release said.

Based on the amendment, the Ministry of Mines wrote to the Tamil Nadu government in September 2023 about the auction of critical mineral blocks in the State, including the Nayakkarpatti tungsten block. However, in response, the Water Resources Minister of Tamil Nadu questioned the amendment Act passed by Parliament, and demanded that the power to auction the critical minerals also be vested with State governments.

“It is pertinent to note here that during 2021-2023, when the State had the power to auction the critical minerals, Tamil Nadu did not do anything. In fact, since the advent of the auction regime, Tamil Nadu has not auctioned a single major mineral block in the last nine years,” the release added.