Selianallur Limestone Mine (G.O.Ms.No.422 – Area 4.060 Ha) of The Cements Limited (ICL), Sankarnagar, District, .

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE PROJECT

M/s. The Limited (ICL) is having five mining leases adjacent to each other in Selianallur Village, Tirunelveli Taluk and District. These five mining leases are G.O.Ms.No. 422/25.04.1990 (4.060 Ha), 1169/30.10.1990 (8.555 Ha), 876/21.08.1990 (4.740 Ha), 420/24.04.1990 (5.710 Ha) and 70/10.06.1998 (4.265 Ha). Since all the mining leases are adjacent to each other and all these areas are contiguous, it is planned to operate the mining leases on a contiguous working basis as such. This report is prepared for getting environmental clearance for G.O.Ms.No. 422 over an area of 4.060 Ha. (9.98 Acres). The lease area is in 3 patches, which are connected by the adjacent leases of the proponent. Limestone from these mines is being supplied to cement manufacturing unit of ICL at Sankarnagar which is located about 11.8 km, SE (By Road) from the mine site. The mining lease was granted vide G.O.No. 422 dated 25.04.1990 over an extent of 4.060 Ha (9.98 Acres) for a period of 20 years which was expired on 29.07.2010. Subsequently, company has applied for renewal in time for 20 years from 30.07.2010 and presently the lease is operating under deemed extension basis. However as per the MMDR (Amendment) Act, 2015 the mining lease will be extended up to 29.07.2040. The present scheme of mining is prepared and submitted for the period 2014-15 to 2018-19, approved by IBM vide letter No – TN/TNL/LST/MS-1095.MDS, dated 01.09.2014. The mining lease area is less than 50 Ha and the declared Gangaikondan Spotted Deer Sanctuary is located 8.0 km from the project (i.e> 5 km from the Sanctuary), hence this project falls under category B as per MoEF&CC Notification. The peak limestone production from this lease would be 0.13 LTPA (Lakh Tonnes per annum). The project is located in Selianallur village, Tirunelveli Taluk, of Tamilnadu. Nearest railway station is Talaiyuthu which is about 13.4 km (By road) away from the project. The project area is connected through village road to NH-44 connecting Kanyakumari and Srinagar on the eastern side. Limestone transportation is mostly through dedicated road and a small stretch of public road. Mining lease operations for limestone in this area by the project proponent commenced right from year 1990 onwards. Entire land is in proponent possession. The lease area falls between latitude N8° 53' 03.3" to N8° 53' 18.4" & longitude from E77° 42' 26.8" to

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Selianallur Limestone Mine (G.O.Ms.No.422 – Area 4.060 Ha) of The India Cements Limited (ICL), Sankarnagar, Tirunelveli District, Tamil Nadu.

E77° 42' 40.2" and falls in Survey of India Toposheet No. 58 H/9.The lease area is almost plain with elevation in the range of 56RL in the western side to 61RL in the eastern side. The lease area does not include any forest land. Other than Gangaikondan Spotted Deer Sanctuary no ecologically sensitive features like national parks, biospheres, elephant corridors, Tiger reserves, flight paths of migrating fauna, etc., occur in the buffer area of the project. The area does not come under CRZ category. There are no streams or water bodies within the lease area. In the 10km radius study area, Seasonal River Chittar is flowing about 0.6 km in the northern side of the lease area. Thamirabarani river flows about 13.0 km SE of the lease area. Talaiyuthu R.F-3.5 km (SE) & Gangaikondan P.F– 5.9 km (SE) are located away from the lease boundary. The total limestone reserves available mining lease holds as on 01.04.2014 is 1.56 Lakh Tonnes, out of which 0.24 Lakhs Tonnes is cement grade limestone and remaining 1.32 lakhs tonnes is siliceous limestone. The anticipated life of the mine will be about 13 years. The waste rock generated from the mines comprises of interburden/ interstitial waste and Developmental waste comprising overburden and side burden. The total waste to be generated from this mine for the balance mine life is estimated to be 7.66 lakh tonnes. Out of this 7.25 lakh tonnes are developmental waste and 0.41 lakh tonnes are interstitial waste. Entire waste generated will be dumped externally within the lease area. The mine is a mechanized opencast mine. Mining is being and proposed to carry out with conventional drilling and blasting. Secondary breaking is being done with hydraulic rock breaker and there is no secondary blasting in the mine. Loading of limestone is being done with hydraulic excavators. The blasted materials are handled with hydraulic excavators and loaded in to tippers for transporting to the factory and for dumping waste rocks in the waste dumps. The permission for carrying out conventional deep hole drilling and blasting is obtained from the concerned authorities. The mine will be worked in 5 m slices and the ultimate dimension of benches will be 10mX10m. So the slope angle of 60ºwill be maintained. Since there are 5 mining leases adjacent to each other combined mining method is planned. Systematic mine development and limestone extraction is carried out simultaneously. The Selianallur Limestone Mine consist of two working pits say South Pit and North Pit. The mining lease vide G.O.422 is falls in the south pit of the mine and the lease area is divided in to three areas connected each other by other mining leases of the mine.

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Selianallur Limestone Mine (G.O.Ms.No.422 – Area 4.060 Ha) of The India Cements Limited (ICL), Sankarnagar, Tirunelveli District, Tamil Nadu.

In the post mining stage, out of 4.060 Ha of lease area, 1.840 Ha will be the excavated area, External dump will be 1.940Ha, Green belt covers an area of 0.150Ha and about 0.130Ha will remain undisturbed. About 0.550 Ha of area is presently covered under plantation. It is proposed to plant totally around 650 plants covering 0.65 Ha of area in future. The total manpower on direct basis works out to 14. Indirectly more than 100 people will be benefitted due to allied service sectors like trading, logistics, casual labor needs, green belt creation etc. Total water requirements for the entire Selianallur ML operations (all the leases) will be about 14 KLD comprising Domestic– 1.5KLD,Water sprinkling/ dust suppression – 10 KLD and Green belt development/plantation – 2.5 KLD. Industrial water requirement like dust suppression, green belt, etc., will be met from mine sump water & bore well. Drinking water requirement will be met from own bore well. Common site services like mine office, first aid room, rest shelters, toilets, already existing in the mines. Centralized workshop facilities are available at vehicle maintenance division for all the mining leases of ICL. Licensed Magazine located at Selianallur and Ramayanpatti village is used commonly for all the five mining leases of Selianallur Limestone Mines. There will not be any storage of explosives in the site. ICL has already carried out various social welfare measure and peripheral developmental activities with a good social outreach, so as to enhance the life style, income generation opportunities and educational levels of the local community in a big way. It has been involved in developing health, education, skill development, environment and spiritual development of the society. For various CSR activities, M/s The India Cements Limited has spent about Rs. 191.40 Lakhs in the period of 2010 – 2014. For all the 5 mining leases of Selianallur Limestone Mines, it is proposed to spend Rs 50.0 Lakhs for the CSR activities for the next five years. In total Rs. 10 lakhs per year for Selianallur limestone mine will be spent under CSR. Total cost of the project: This is a working mine since 1990 hence the estimation of project cost at this juncture does not arise. Setting up of mines and the cement factory has resulted in overall development of the region due to provision of direct & indirect employment, improvement in the general living standards and knowledge sharing, improved wage level and the living standard of the local people and continual improvements of the local amenities for the local society. Besides, the

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Selianallur Limestone Mine (G.O.Ms.No.422 – Area 4.060 Ha) of The India Cements Limited (ICL), Sankarnagar, Tirunelveli District, Tamil Nadu. local panchayats, State and Central Governments will also benefit due to receipt of taxes, cess, royalty etc., from the project proponent. In the context of accrual of tangible benefits on all fronts arising from project operations, the project is worthy of approval for improving the infrastructural, social and financial status of the region, the State and the country, as a whole.

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