We find minerals where nature placed them and not where we want them. It is this fact that has given rise to problems stemming from our efforts to achieve conflicting goals of preserving what lies above the earth and extracting what lies hidden in the earth's bowl. Many of the country's finest forests and wilderness areas have extractable mineral reserves beneath them. Mining of mineral reserves in these areas have posed a major threat to wildlife conservation in India.

Increasing practice of open cast mining is a cause of large scale disturbance, human intrusion and biotic pressures on floral and faunal values. Impacts of mining on Western Himalayan ecosystems have been well established (Joshi et.al., 1983; Joshi & Bhattacharya, 1988 and Valdiya, 1988). Ecological problems of mining in Mussoorie hills have been highlighted by Rajwar 1982. Impacts of iron ore mining on elephant habitats in Singhbhum forests have been identified by Singh, 1995. Iron ore mining in the area has greatly affected the habitat utilisation patterns by elephants. Avoidance of certain areas of the habitat in the vicinity of the mining project have been identified as a major behaviour change that will jeopardise the efforts of elephant conservation in the tracts of Singhbhum forest in the near future. Stone mining in the vicinity of the Sariska Tiger Reserve, diamond mining near Panna National Park and limestone mining in Jamra Ramgarh Sanctuary all offer glaring examples of impacts of mining projects on the wilderness values of the protected areas of our country (pers. comm. P.K. Chowdhery, 1997 and Kaur, 1997).

Similarly, mining operations in Reserved Forest areas of Chandrapur forest division in Maharashtra have not only threatened the viability of corridor linkages for the migration of tiger populations but have also affected the population size of other species (pers. comm. with the officials of the Maharashtra Forest Department, 1997 and Dhanwatay, 1994).

These examples draw our attention to the conflict between conserving our biodiversity heritage and short term economic gain through mining activities in our country.