New Delhi: The Supreme Court has banished British Company Vedanta Resources Plc from mining bauxite in forested hills of south Orissa where tribal people and voluntary groups strongly resist it.

The court stated that it could not take the risk of assigning what it told was a ‘significant national asset’ to a company.

The SC asked Vedanta’s Indian unit, Sterlite Industries to return with a fresh plan for the project.

Vedanta wishes to excavate open-cast mines in the Niyamgiri hills in Orissa to supply an alumina plant it has already constructed in the area under its USD 800 million project.

The court, in October, set fresh terms for Vedanta and Sterlite before permitting them to mine in the area.

On Friday, the court asked Sterlite to establish a new firm to grip the investment in the project, and get back to the court for its authorization.

Thousands of tribal people said that the mine will annihilate hills they believe sacred, force them from their habitations and demolish their livelihoods that are based on farming millet, hunting and collecting fruits and spices from the forests.

Environmentalists said that the open-cast mine would also wreck the rich diverseness of the remote hills and disturb key water sources, which supply springs and streams in the area and feed two rivers that water large farming areas.

The state and central administration both back the project, as part of attempts to industrialise and exploit the mineral resources of underdeveloped eastern India.

The Environment Ministry also told the court that the mining would only influence a marginal amount of forest land.