Jitu Jakeskia, a young Dongria Kondh activist...[says] "Niyamgiri mountain is the most important place for Dongria Kondh people..."... But an arm of the mining giant Vedanta Resources...wants the minerals from Niyamgiri hill... Critics say mining the hills may cause severe environmental damage, and could disrupt the Dongria's way of life...[M]ining can't begin until India's Supreme Court has given its clearance... Orissa is one of India's poorest states, but also one of the richest in natural resources, so the government is keen to tap its potential... Vedanta says all the claims are false. There won't be irreversible damage to the environment. It says it will only mine the surface 10-15 metres down in selected areas in the hills and then fill in the holes when it is finished. "I don't think any plant can have better environmental standards than we have," Dr Mukesh Kumar told me.