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The village of Sonakhan in Chhattisgarh hardly looks like the site of a gold rush. There are no gun-toting ruffians nor squalid camps of desperate fortune seekers. The dusty village with its distinct reddish soil is a collection of modest brick homes and small patches of cultivated land amid scraggly forest.
But the village, a two-hour drive from Raipur, could soon be enveloped by India's first private gold mine. Residents of Sonakhan sift for flecks of gold on the banks of the river Jonk during the monsoon rains. They voice fears that the mine will up-end their lives.
Vedanta, a unit of London-listed Vedanta Resources, last year won India's first auction of a gold mine, as the government opened up the sector to private companies.
The Baghmara mine has potential reserves of about 2.7 tonnes of gold, and officials have said mining will begin in two years. Vedanta said at the time that the mining block, measuring 6.08 sq km, required extensive exploration.
Residents of Sonakhan said they first heard of the auction in the newspapers. There were no visits by government officials to brief them, nor panchayat meetings to discuss the impact of the mine, they said.
Vedanta Resources did not respond to a request for comment. Activists say mining activity will affect at least 24 villages in a range of 40-50 km.
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Villagers have held rallies and made representations to state officials. They plan to keep protesting until they get more details on the mine's environmental impact and assurances they will not be displaced.
Officials say their concern is misplaced – and premature.
India is one of the world’s biggest gold importers behind China. It buys about 800 tonnes of the yellow metal from abroad.
The race for resources in Chhattisgarh has pitted some of its most vulnerable people against officials keen to tap its valuable resources.
There are 25 conflicts around coal and iron ore mines, power projects and steel plants in the state, affecting nearly 70,000 people, according to research firm Land Conflict Watch.
Adivasis and Dalits, who make up more than 40 percent of the state's population, face displacement and loss of livelihood as forests are cleared for industry.
Sonakhan has a legacy of protest.
A landlord, Veer Narayan Singh, was executed for leading a revolt against British rule in 1857. Then there is also the Naxal rebellion in the state. Villagers caught in the cross-fire between the Maoists and security forces say they only want to hold on to their land.
(This article has been published in arrangement with the Thomson Reuters Foundation.)
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