Planned mining project in Kotikambokka vein quartz deposit may harm Alikota Ara Reservoir

 The picture shows the subject minister Sunil Handunnetti inspecting the Wellawaya Kotikambokka vein quartz deposit

• Minister Handunnetti states that the regime plans to explore the potential of utilising this mineral deposit to strengthen the economy
• Environmental organizations emphasise that an Environmental Impact Assessment must be conducted prior to any mining activities
• The bund of the Alikota Ara Reservoir has been constructed adjacent to this vein quartz deposit

Minister of Industries Sunil Handunnetti recently visited Wellawaya to investigate the Kotikambokka vein quartz deposit (Dhamani Thiruwana) in the Kongahawela Forest Reserve, in the Monaragala District. The vein quartz deposit is said to have a high commercial value.
Speaking to the media after the visit, the Minister stated that the purpose of his visit was to explore the potential of utilising this mineral deposit to strengthen the country’s economy.
Although the decision to properly mine this mineral deposit, which had been plundered for many years by local politicians and their associates, and to use it to strengthen the national economy is a positive step, environmental organizations emphasized that a comprehensive and formal Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) must be conducted prior to any mining activities. They further stressed the importance of carefully studying whether implementing this project would be beneficial in the long term.

“This forest serves as the catchment area for the Alikota Ara Reservoir, built under the Uma Oya project, as well as the Alikota Ara, a tributary of the Kirindi Oya. The area contains a large number of high-value timber species and provides habitat for many large wild animals”
- Hemantha Withanage, Chairman Environmental Justice

The picture shows how trees, that will be felled to facilitate the building of the road which will lead to the mining area, have been marked

A sign put up in the area during the period when mining activities took place

“The bund of the Alikota Ara Reservoir has been constructed adjacent to this vein quartz deposit. Irrigation engineers have previously pointed out that if any blasting activity connected to the mining of this deposit is carried out, it could directly damage the bund of the reservoir. Furthermore this mineral deposit is largely spread within the Kosgahawela Forest Reserve, which belongs to the Department of Forest Conservation. If mining is undertaken, the forest cover that currently overlays this quartz deposit would have to be cleared. If that happens, the exposed land could lead to severe soil erosion, and as a result, the Alikota Ara Reservoir could become filled with silt within a very short period of time. That is why we say that if there is any intention to carry out mineral mining here, a proper Environmental Impact Assessment must be conducted beforehand,” said Anura Wickramasinghe of the Monaragala Soba Padanama Foundation.
The Kosgahawela Forest Reserve in Kotikambokka located within the Wellawaya Range and the Ethiliwewa Beat under the Department of Forest Conservation, covers an area of approximately 270 hectares. The deposit extends across about 6 hectares of this land, and it has been estimated that it contains around 0.31 million metric tons of vein quartz. Engineers of the Geological Survey and Mines Bureau (GSMB) stated that this mineral deposit is one of the country’s most valuable deposits with high commercial significance. In addition to vein quartz, an investigation conducted in 2015 by the Department of Forest Conservation (DFC) revealed the presence of rocks such as feldspar and moonstone within the deposit.
Political interest in mining 
Mining activities at the Kotikambokka vein quartz deposit in Wellawaya began around 1998. During the initial stage, only two or three individuals carried out mining operations, and these were conducted on a very small scale. As a result, the environmental damage caused at that time was minimal. However, after around 2002, the GSMB began issuing licences to conduct mining on a commercial scale. Due to the lack of follow-up, large-scale and unregulated mining operations took place, causing significant damage to the Kosgahawela Reserve, which belongs to the DFC.
In the early phase of large-scale extraction, mining operations were reportedly carried out by a Member of Parliament representing the Wellawaya electorate from the United National Party. Later, after 2010, during the Mahinda Rajapaksa administration, the GSMB issued mining licences under political influence to individuals including the then Chairman of the Wellawaya Pradeshiya Sabha, as well as several municipal and provincial council members in the Uva Province, and associates of the then Minister of Environment. These licences enabled extensive and unchecked mining in the area. It is also reported that some individuals at the time had fraudulently sold mining licences of this mineral deposit to a foreign woman for several billions of rupees. However, in 2015, the Government at the time completely halted mining activities at the site. This decision followed continuous exposés by environmental organizations and the media regarding the irregular and unlawful mining of the deposit.
Proposal to assign mining operations 
Due to the irregular and destructive nature of mining activities at the vein quartz deposit, located within the Kosgahawela Forest Reserve, all mineral extraction operations at the site were completely suspended in 2015. However, in 2016, the then government decided to establish an institution named G.S.M.B Technical Services (Pvt) Ltd (GSMBTSPVT), affiliated with the Geological Survey and Mines Bureau, and to assign the mining activities at the site to this company. This decision was based on a proposal submitted to the Cabinet by the then Minister of Environment under Cabinet Memorandum No. 17/0629/704/001.
Accordingly, on May 23, 2016, the then Secretary to the Ministry of Environment, Udaya R. Seneviratne, issued a letter to the Chairman of the GSMB, with a copy to the then Director General of Forest Conservation, S. A. Anura Sathurusinghe, informing that at the progress review meeting of the Ministry of Environment held on 31 March 2016, headed by President Maithripala Sirisena, who was also the Minister in charge of the subject of Environment, a decision had been taken to grant permission to the technical services private company of the Geological Survey and Mines Bureau, G.S.M.B TS PVT to mine and remove the vein quartz deposit in the Wellawaya Kotikambokka area, subject to eight conditions. He emphasised to the Chairman of the GSMB that, since the relevant land belongs to the DFC, all necessary approvals had to be obtained from the Director General of Forest Conservation and that all related procedures had to be carried out properly and in accordance with due process.
Mining Licence issued sans approval
Although the then Secretary to the Ministry of Environment, Udaya R. Seneviratne, had instructed the relevant company and the GSMB that no action should be taken without obtaining formal approval from the DFC, which holds ownership of the land in question, he had subsequently sent a letter dated May 10, 2016 to the GSMB Chairman stating that the President had decided on granting the mining operations of this mineral deposit to GSMBTSPVT. Accordingly, he had instructed that a mining licence be issued to the company without awaiting for approval from the DFC.
However, at that time, the DFC hadn’t granted permission for the mining activities. Furthermore, without conducting either an Environmental Impact Assessment or even an Initial Environment Examination Report regarding the release of these forest lands, the GSMB had issued a mining license to the company. This was revealed at a technical committee meeting held on March 13, 2017 at the auditorium of the DFC head office which was headed by the Secretary to the Ministry of Environment, Seneviratne, regarding the allocation of land for the mining project.
Need to remove 332 trees 
According to the project proposal submitted by GSMBTSPVT for mining the Kotikambokka vein quartz deposit in Wellawaya, it was proposed to construct an access road approximately 8 metres wide and about 400 metres long from the northern end of the Alikota Ara Reservoir in order to extract the mineral. Based on instructions from the Director General of DFC and the District Forest Officer of Monaragala, forest officers of the Wellawaya Range Office marked the trees that would have to be removed due to the construction of this road. It was revealed that 332 large and highly valuable timber trees had to be felled. Accordingly, on November 10, 2016, the DFC sent a letter to the Secretary to the Ministry of Environment seeking approval to remove these trees. However, approval from the Ministry of Environment wasn’t granted.
The project proposal of GSMBTSPVT sought permission to mine an area of 2 hectares of land within this mineral deposit. Under Gazette No. 722/22 dated 24 June 1993, issued under the National Environmental Act No. 47 of 1980, any development activity involving more than one hectare of land requires a mandatory Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). Although an Initial Environment Examination Report (I.E.E.R) may have been sufficient if the environmental impact was considered minimal, Senior Environmentalist and Attorney-at-Law Jagath Gunawardena, who is regarded as an expert in the environmental field, pointed out at the time that an Environmental Impact Assessment (E.I.A) was mandatory, as the proposed mining land had been recommended for gazetting as a reserve and construction of the Alikota Ara Reservoir had already commenced. 
Meanwhile, on May 6, 2015, the then District Forest Officer of Monaragala, D.P. Prasad, sent a letter to the Deputy Conservator of Forests (Uva and Central), emphasising that if the government were to assign the mineral mining operations to any company without following the relevant legal procedures, a local environmental organization had informed him in writing that it would initiate legal action against such a move.
Warning by irrigation engineers 
At the technical committee meeting held on March 13, 2017 to consider the project proposal submitted by GSMBTSPVT regarding the mineral mining operation, Irrigation Engineer S. Selvakandan, representing the Department of Irrigation, warned that granting permission for blasting to extract the mineral deposit could damage the bund of the Alikota Ara Reservoir. He therefore requested that mining be carried out using chemical methods instead of blasting. However, officials of the GSMB rejected this request, stating that the use of chemicals could contaminate the quartz deposit, thereby reducing its commercial value. 
Approximately 25 families in the Wellawaya Kotikambokka village had to abandon their lands and relocate to other areas after their lands were submerged by the Alikota Ara Reservoir. Some members of these families had previously worked as daily wage labourers under various businessmen involved in mining this mineral deposit. They pointed out that, at the time, no proper standards had been followed in conducting blasting operations.
“When blasting was carried out to break the quartz, even if there were supposed to be standards, no one paid attention to them. They conducted blasting activities as they pleased. It is surprising that the hill did not collapse given the way blasting was done. However, the impact may be felt later. Moreover, every businessman simply paid a small state royalty and sold the mineral as a raw material without adding any value or creating employment opportunities for the village. A politician from this area, who had been involved in mining and exporting quartz from this deposit from the very beginning, had extracted and transported approximately one hectare of quartz outside the land legally allocated for mining. This activity caused the government losses amounting to several billions of rupees. A case is now pending in that regard,” said a resident of Kotikambokka village who requested anonymity.
Although environmental organizations stated that an EIA should be conducted for this mining project, the technical committee appointed for the purpose called only for an Initial Environment Examination Report (IEER) from the company. Accordingly, GSMBTSPVT submitted an Initial Environment Examination Report to the Director General of DFC. However, it was revealed at a technical committee meeting held at 2:30 p.m. on November 29, 2017 at the Head Office of the DFC in Colombo that the report contained significant shortcomings. The technical committee therefore instructed the company to prepare and resubmit a revised Initial Environment Examination Report. Nevertheless, the company reportedly attempted to delay this process while seeking political intervention in order to obtain approval for the mining operations.
Meanwhile, on July 20, 2016, H.M.P.S.D. Herath, the then Resident Engineer of the Alikota Ara Reservoir, under the Uma Oya Multipurpose Development Project, implemented through the Lower Uva Development Project, informed in writing (with copies to the Monaragala Mining Engineer of the Geological Survey and Mines Bureau, the Monaragala District Forest Officer, and the Divisional Manager of the Central Environmental Authority) to the Project Director of the Uma Oya Development Project that the blasting carried out for mineral mining could cause damage to the bund, sluice gate and spillway of the Alikota Ara Reservoir. He therefore requested that no permission be granted to any party to conduct mining operations at the site.
At the time this request was made, the bund of the reservoir had been constructed up to a height of 10 metres, while the spillway and the sluice gate structures had been completed up to 15 metres and core grouting had already been carried out. He further pointed out that, given the geological characteristics of the area, blasting for mineral extraction could create serious issues affecting the reservoir’s ability to retain water.
Will the regime grant approval?
Recently, Minister Handunnetti, along with a group of officials, visited the mineral deposit located within the Kosgolla Reserve in Wellawaya to examine how it could be utilised in a manner beneficial to the country. During the visit, the Minister stated that preliminary investigations had revealed that the vein quartz deposit contains approximately 3.1 billion metric tons of quartz. He emphasised that the objective of his Ministry is to ensure that this valuable national resource isn’t destroyed, but is instead properly integrated into the national production process. Following the field inspection, the Minister had held discussions with officials from state institutions involved in the inspection, including the DFC and the GSMB. It was decided to re-demarcate the land over which the deposit extends, submit a report to the Wellawaya Divisional Secretary regarding potential administrative-level obstacles that may arise during mining, recalculate the volume of reserves using scientific methodologies, resolve existing legal and environmental issues and thereafter, call for expressions of interest to carry out mining operations in a transparent manner Among those present at the occasion were Monaragala District Member of Parliament Chathuri Gangani; Chairman of the National Gem and Jewellery Authority, Dr. S.G. Chaminda; Additional Secretary to the Ministry of Industry and Entrepreneurship Development, Mahesh Abeysekara, and Chairman of the Geological Survey and Mines Bureau, J.M.S.N. Jayasinghe.
The Government is considering recommencing mineral extraction at this quartz deposit, where mining activities had previously been suspended due to environmental concerns, requests made by irrigation engineers, and opposition from forest conservation officials. At present, the Alikota Ara Reservoir, constructed under the Uma Oya Development Project, has been fully completed. Under this scheme, approximately 20 large and small tanks, including the Handapanagala Reservoir, receive water. As a result, more than 15,000 families depend directly and indirectly on the Uma Oya project.
In light of this new mining proposal, this newspaper sought the views of Hemantha Withanage, Chairman of the Centre for Environmental Justice and a Senior Environmentalist, regarding the potential impacts on the Alikota Ara Reservoir under the Uma Oya scheme, as well as the environmental consequences for the Kosgolla Forest Reserve.
He pointed out that the area, situated about 305 metres above sea level with an average slope of approximately 60 percent, requires a fresh preliminary study to assess the possible impacts of mining and associated blasting activities. He further emphasised that since the mineral deposit is located in close proximity to the Alikota Ara Reservoir, built under the Uma Oya Project, any mining or development activity must be preceded by a mandatory Environmental Impact Assessment to properly evaluate potential environmental and reservoir-related impacts.
“The Kotikambokka Kosgolla Reserve, where this mineral deposit is located, is an inter-zonal savanna mixed forest. It is also a hydrologically sensitive zone. This forest serves as the catchment area for the Alikota Ara Reservoir, built under the Uma Oya project, as well as the Alikota Ara, a tributary of the Kirindi Oya. The area contains a large number of high-value timber species and provides habitat for many large wild animals. Our observations have also confirmed that an elephant migratory corridor passes through this forest system. Furthermore, blasting for mining could have serious impacts on the reservoir bund and sluice gate,” Withanage further stressed.
Environmentalists and environmental organizations are of the view that mining the vein quartz deposit, which extends across a large portion of the proposed Kotikambokka–Kosgahawela Reserve in Wellawaya, could cause severe damage both to the Alikota Ara Reservoir and to the proposed forest reserve itself. 

A view of the land with the proposed mineral deposit for mining in the Alikotaara reservoir

“We haven’t been informed that mining will be carried out”- Director General of DFC

In this context, this newspaper sought the position of the DFC regarding the government’s proposed mining programme. When contacted, the Director General of DFC W.M.P.S.C. Palamakumbura, stated that although the Minister of Industry and Entrepreneurship Development had conducted a field visit to the proposed site, no formal request had yet been made by the Minister’s office to commence mining operations.
“Officers from our Department also participated in the Minister’s field inspection. However, we haven’t been informed that mining will be carried out or that there is any future plan in that regard. The majority of this mineral deposit lies within a forest reserve under the Department of Forest Conservation. If a proposal for mining is submitted, we will review the previous investigations conducted on this matter and take appropriate action accordingly,” he said.