Tribe fears loss of forest homeland to mining firm

New Delhi: One of the world's most remote hill tribes will learn this week whether they face being evicted from their forest homeland to make way for an opencast bauxite mine run by one of Britain's biggest listed companies. The battle pits Vedanta Resources, one of the largest mining companies in the world, against the Dongria Kondh, an 8,000-strong tribe in the Indian region of Orissa. The Kondh are one of India's most isolated tribes. They believe in witch doctors and brutal animal sacrifices, and worship the mountains and forests they inhabit. Vedanta wants to open a massive, opencast mine in their territory to produce bauxite, the chief source of aluminium. The tribe claims this will not only irreversibly destroy their revered mountain, but also a huge swathe of surrounding jungle, one of the last remaining forests in... [read full story]