Australian firm strikes gold in Rajasthan

Indo Gold Ltd (IGL) of Brisbane has struck gold in Jagpura region in Rajasthan. The company has discovered 1.74 million ounces of gold at the Bhukia prospect. Once IGL gets its prospecting licence, this would be the first ever open pit gold mine in the country.

The Australian mining firm is hoping to start the prospecting for gold in a couple of months, and it has lined up an investment of A $20 million in next two years for India.

IGL has a joint venture with Metal Mining India Pvt Ltd (MMI) wherein IGL has 70 per cent stake and would finance and give technical inputs to the entire project. MMI holds a Reconnaissance Permit (RP) over the Jagpura Project, which is spread in an area of 2,100 sq km. The region will have another 20-30 prospects like Bhukia.

The Jagpura region, which is located in southeastern Rajasthan, approximately 150 km south of Udaipur, until recently has had not been thought of as having significant gold prospectivity.

However, IGL in the initial drill of the region had looked as a promising area where the gold reserve would be approximately 1.4 gram per tonne.

The JV's work has also suggested that there would be copper deposits averaging between 0.1 and 0.15 per cent. According to IGL Managing Director Mike Higgins, the limited drilling had shown good gold mineralisation in most areas tested and it certainly had more potential.

The company used the Australian Joint Ore Reserves Committee (JORC) guidelines for the entire process.

The area to be explored is arid and underdeveloped so there are no issues of resettlement and rehabilitation. However, Higgins said the government was taking longer than usual to grant the prospecting license.

The company requires both the state government's and Centre's approval for getting the prospecting licence.