The company had earlier secured an in-principle approval for the issuance of a mining lease for the Bunder Diamond project through a letter of intent from the government of Madhya Pradesh but an Expert Appraisal Committee under the Union Environment Ministry can pose obstacles to the project as the mine had been in operation since 2004 without clearance.
Operations halted at the mine since 14 November 2012, for which the Committee has now put forward terms of reference to conduct an Environmental Impact Assessment for the Bunder project.
An official from the Environment Ministry was quoted by The Hindu as saying that Rio Tinto seeks to divert nearly 1,000ha of forest land in Chhatarpur district to develop the project.
"The proposal is for opening of new mine for production 7.15 MTPA (ROM) of kimberlite (diamond) ore. Mine lease area is 954 hectares and the whole area is forest land," said the official.
The $500m Bunder diamond project is expected to begin diamond ore production in 2016.
