Mines With Over 3,000 Tonnes Of Gold Ore Found In Uttar Pradesh's Sonbhadra

Uttar Pradesh is all set for a gold rush of modern times after tonnes of gold reserves were found in Sonbhadra district of the state.

The Uttar Pradesh government has confirmed that the gold mines were found in Son Pahadi in Mahuli and Hardi village in the tribal district of Sonbhadra.

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The discovery of gold ore was made by the Uttar Pradesh Directorate of Geology and the Mining and Geological Survey of India which have been conducting extensive studies in the region for nearly two decades.

According to estimates, the gold ore reserves in Son Pahadi and Hardi village are said to be 3,589. 76 tonnes.

In Son Pahadi the gold ore deposit is estimated to be around 2,943.25 tonnes, and Hardi is said to hold 646.15 tonnes.

Though the presence of gold ore in the region was well known, even to the British, it was only in the 90s that studies began there to ascertain the presence of the shining metal.

After the gold presence was confirmed, the Uttar Pradesh government has constituted a seven-member team for auctioning of these blocks through the e-tender process.

The team will be geo-tagging the entire region and will submit its report to the Directorate of Geology and Mining.

"Government is thinking of putting these deposits on lease for mining, for which survey is being done" KK Rai, District Mining Officer of Sonbhadra had said on Thursday.

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Officials also believe that the area could be holding other valuable rare minerals like uranium. An aerial survey of the area is being carried out to identify the presence of other minerals.

On Saturday evening the GSI however contradicted the District Mining Official's claims and said that the has been no discovery of gold deposits estimated to be around 3,000 tonnes and that the approximate amount of the precious metal that can be extracted is just around 160 kgs.

Bundelkhand and Vindhyan districts of UP are rich in minerals like gold, diamond, platinum, limestone, granite, phosphate, quartz, and China clay.

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Currently, the Hutti Mines in Karnataka's Raichur is the only active gold mine in the country.

Hutti Gold Mines, owned by the Karnataka government, is currently extracting around 1,400-1600 kgs of gold a year from the nearly 5.4-5.8 lakh tonnes of ore in the region. Last year it had decided to scale up the production to 3,500 kg by 2021.

The only other known source of gold in the country is the Lawa Gold Mines in Jharkhand.

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India's most famous goldmine, the Kolar Gold Fields in Karnataka which had an output of over 1000 tonnes shut down in 2001.