The name Kuduremukha literally means "horse-faced" in Kannada and refers to a particular picturesque view of a side of the mountain that resembles a horse's face.

[3] The Kudremukha National Park (latitude 13°01'00" to 13°29'17" N, longitude 75°00'55' to 75°25'00" E) is the second-largest Wildlife Protected Area (600.32  km2) belonging to a tropical wet evergreen type of forest in the Western Ghats.

The northern, central, and eastern portions of the park constitute a chain of rolling hills with a mosaic of natural grassland and shola forests.

Kudremukha receives an average annual rainfall of 7000 mm,[citation needed] largely due to the forest types of mainly evergreen vegetation that can be found here.

Based on his report, the Karnataka State Wildlife Advisory Board suggested to the government that Kudremukha National Park be created.

The wet climate and the tremendous water retentive capacity of the shola grasslands and forests have led to the formation of thousands of perennial streams in the region converging to form three major rivers of the region, Tunga, Bhadra and Nethravathi which form an important lifeline for the people of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

There are numerous peaks inside the National Park, each offering a mesmerizing view of the evergreen forest and the western escarpments.

As per 2011 census,[11] the Kudremukha Notified Area Council (NAC) which spans 45.43 square kilometres (17.54 sq mi) had a population of just 2,241 with 719 households.

Opposition to its activities built up over the years from environmentalists and wildlife conservationists who were concerned about the threat to the region's flora and fauna, and farmers who were affected by the pollution of the streams that originated in the mining area.

The rainfall in Kudremukh, which is one of the highest for any open cast mining operation in the world,[citation needed] greatly accentuates the impacts of siltation as claimed by environmentalists.

The topographic and rainfall characteristics in combination with the open cast mining of low-grade iron ore and other land-surface disturbances caused by the KIOCL operations resulted in very high sediment discharge, with over 60% of the total siltation in the Bhadra system being contributed by the mining area which forms less than six per cent of the catchment.

With high-quality practices adopted by KIOCL to mine, the flora and fauna remained intact, causing no adverse effects on nature [citation needed].

KIOCL used to send iron ore through pipes running through districts of Udupi and Dakshina Kannada and converted to pellets at their plant in Panambur.