Date | Feb 13, 2017:
The pioneering gold mining town in India, Kolar Gold Fields (KGF), has a fascinating history. Over two decades bridging the 19th and 20th centuries, a remote corner of the Old Mysore state's people were transformed by a British company into a close-knit industrial community with special skills in mining at great depths.
By sheer doggedness, professionalism, perseverance and a bit of luck, John Taylor & Sons established a profitable and pioneering industry at KGF and the labour force ran to tens of thousands right up to the 1930s. For the poverty-stricken neighbourhood, jobs in the pits ensured regular meals and a place to stay.
The mines were nationalised in 1956 but closed 15 years ago, after losses due to inept management, wrong pricing policy and lack of investment in new exploration. The mines were allowed to be inundated by water. Unlike a factory that can be locked for a few years and then reopened and put back into production after due dusting, oiling, checking of contacts and reconnection to a power source, an underground mine's constant threat and nemesis is water. Whatever precious ore is still below the water is lost forever.
Politicians have suggested the water can be drained and used for irrigation in the parched land. Another hare-brained idea was to use the defunct shafts as landfills for Bengaluru's waste. There's talk about reopening / reviving the mines, especially after various courts ruled in favour of restarting mining around KGF.
Draining the mines and restarting mining is impossible, say professionals. The water has dissolved chemicals that can prove dangerous to plants, livestock and people and it cannot be used for irrigation. The honeycomb of tunnels and shafts are held together by the buoyancy of the water and an attempt to drain the water will increase the possibility of land slips, rock bursts and even earthquakes. This is the considered opinion of everyone connected with the mining industry.
Mining needs to be resumed in the Kolar rocks, but certainly not in the old mines. That mining can be started outside the already mined out areas is obvious. What have we done to look for gold, nickel, manganese, tungsten, chromium, copper, bauxite, etc? The initial exploratory work is risky, costly and time consuming and fraught with risk. Merely to say we have reserves of Rs 15,000 crore worth gold in KGF does not tell us where to sink a shaft.
If a new shaft is sunk and indeed by fortuitous turn of events, gold is produced in KGF, will it reduce our import bills? Not much. India with its fascination for the yellow metal buys about 900 tonnes of gold every year and this is valued at over Rs 2,000 crore. At its best, KGF produced 27 tonnes of gold in 1905, a record. KGF can never dream of meeting the entire demand for gold in India.
Besides using modern technological tools, the prospector has to use his deductive skills, instincts, senses and wisdom to get to know where the elusive metal lies before we even think of mining operations in KGF. Who among us is equal to the task?
(Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/)