**British mining company Vedanta will face activists at its annual general meeting later, protesting against the firm’s plans to open a mine in India.**The Kondh tribe says the opening of the bauxite mine will destroy a large part of the Niyamgiri Mountain in the eastern Indian state of Orissa.
An elder of the tribe will attend the meeting, while environmental campaigner Bianca Jagger will protest outside.
They will appeal to investors to stop Vedanta going ahead with the mine.
Vedanta says the project is ethically and environmentally sound.
“*We have been living in harmony with this mountain, these forests, these animals for generations. Vedanta has been here for less than 10 years. *”
Sitaram Kulisika, Kondh tribe elder
Ms Jagger is supported by UK-based campaign groups, including ActionAid and Survival International.
They plan to be outside the meeting at Lincoln’s Inn, London, with a yellow mining digger to illustrate the kind of mining assault they say Vedanta will launch on the Niyamgiri hills, which many tribal peoples believe to be sacred.
The meeting is due to start at 1500 BST.
Way of life
ActionAid has bought a single share in Vedanta for tribal activist Sitaram Kulisika so that he can attend the meeting on behalf of the Kondh tribe.
“Last year Vedanta directors promised not to mine without our consent. I am here to request all shareholders to honour that promise and save our livelihood and our god,” he said.
"We have been living in harmony with this mountain, these forests, these animals for generations. Vedanta has been here for less than 10 years.
“They cannot tell us what is best for our future.”
Ms Jagger has called on investors, including the Church of England and some borough councils, to rethink their involvement with Vedanta.
The Church has shares in Vedanta worth £2.5m ($4.1m).
Mining giant Vedanta is based in the UK but has most of its operation in India.
It is about to start mining bauxite in the Niyamgiri hills, to be processed at a refinery that has already been built in the area.
Bauxite is used to make aluminium.
The company and its Indian partner have been accused of forcing people to move from the land.