Jonnagiri Gold Project
- The full-scale production of the country’s first large private gold mine in Andhra Pradesh will begin.
- The Jonnagiri gold project, in which the pilot scale operation has already started, will produce about 750 kilogrammes of gold per annum.
- The Karnataka government cleared a proposal of the Centre for reviving gold mining and auctioning 13 tailing dumps spread over 1,003.4 acres at the Kolar Gold Fields (KGF) by the Bharat Gold Mines Ltd. (BGML).
- The mines located at the KGF are owned by BGML, a PSU, which was established in 1972, under the Department of Mines with its office at the KGF.
- As much as 33 million tonnes of tailing dumps (extraction waste) is estimated at the KGF.
- It is estimated that one tonne of dump yields one gram of gold on processing.
- Karnataka cleared the proposal of the Centre under column 17 of the Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation Act, 1957, seeking the State’s consent for reviving gold mining at the KGF.
- Kolar Gold Fields (KGF) is famous for being the oldest and deepest gold mine in India. It was established by the British in 1880 and operated until 2001, producing about 800 tonnes of gold during its lifespan.
- The mine was known for its challenging working conditions, as the miners had to descend to depths of up to 3.2 km and face high temperatures, humidity, and pressure.
- In Karnataka, Hutti is another active gold mine in India, producing about 1.8 tonnes of gold per year. The Hutti mine has a history of over 2,000 years, as mentioned in the ancient Hindu texts of Mahabharata and Ramayana and has a processing plant that can handle 3,000 tonnes of ore per day.
- Gold exploration in Karnataka led to the discovery of open pittable gold deposits in the Archaean greenstone belts of Dharwar Craton. These deposits are in the Dharwar – Shimoga belt.
Dig Deeper: Read about India’s gold consumption’s role in Current Account Deficit. Also, read about the recently discovered gold ore in Sonbhadra region.
