(Bloomberg) — Jindal Steel & Power Co. has been denied an environmental application to develop a $2 billion iron ore mine in South Africa.
Environmental law group All Rise said in a statement on Monday that the application was rejected due to “significant gaps in the environmental impact assessment in relation to constitutional rights.”
If built, the proposed mine at Melmoth in eastern KwaZulu-Natal would be the country's second-largest iron ore mine, dwarfing recent investment in South Africa's mining industry. South Africa's Department of Mineral Resources and Energy said the operation will produce 32 million tonnes of magnetite iron ore per year, which can be processed into 7 million tonnes of iron ore concentrate.
Read more: Barriers erected on Jindal's $2 billion South African iron mine
In response to a request for comment, Parshanth Kumar Goyal, Jindal Africa's general manager of mines and business development, said the company plans to appeal the decision.
The proposed development is opposed by local residents, who say it will require the relocation of thousands of homes and graves. Jindal said all resettlement and grave relocation decisions are made in consultation with the community.
Jindal is controlled by Savitri Jindal, Asia's richest woman, and her family.
(Updated planned mine size in third paragraph)
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