Mining major Rio Tinto has denied allegations of two NGOs expressing their fears about large scale destruction of forests at Bunder in Bundelkhand area of Madhya Pradesh, India.

A company spokesman in India called the accusations a "misrepresentation of facts."

The Indian environmental groups claimed that the company’s plans to build a massive diamond mine would lead to "large scale destruction" of forested areas. An equivalent 954 hectares of land would be afforested as per the Government’s rules. The proposed mine lease area would have 25.6 hectares of green belt with around 65,000 trees.

The NGO, ‘Pahal’, had claimed on February 7 that mining at Bunder would lead to massive destruction of the environment and affect the local tribal population.

Rio Tinto has not yet started mining at the Bunder diamond project.