Geo-environmental factors’ influence on mining operation: an indirect effect of managerial factors

The purpose of the paper is to identify factors associated with operational factor (OF), geo-environmental factor (GEF), and managerial factor (MF) from the literature. After identification, the study intended to assess the impact of geo-environmental factors and managerial factors on operational factors of the mining industry. The study also tests the indirect effect of managerial factors between GEF and OF in the Indian environment. The geographical boundary of the study was 06 large mines of Odisha, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh of India. Three hundred and twenty nine number of purposive samples were collected via email and filtered and processed through the SPSS package. To find out the complex role and inter-relationship of GEF and MF on OF, the study adopted the structural equation modelling technique. The finding reflects that MF plays a partial mediation among GEF and OF. This phenomenon is completely novel in its field when it comes to the geo-environmental and management difficulties confronting mining operations. This research can aid managers in identifying key geological and environmental concerns in mining operations, as well as providing data for regulatory compliance. Overall, this study's findings can help management create policies and manage the environmental concerns of the mining sector. The study's findings provide important directions for future Indian mining research.