Gadag awaits its golden age

KOLAR GOLD PART-II

Gadag in central Karnataka may pass off as another dusty impoverished town bereft of basic services and facilities. But what lies beneath its surface can well turn around the fortunes of the town and its residents.

The discovery of gold ore deposits in and around Gadag is not a recent phenomenon.

In fact, the town has witnessed many false starts in this respect. So, though there is excitement about the restart of gold mining on a large scale, local residents are a little apprehensive at the same time.

Ramgad Minerals and Mining Pvt Ltd (RMMPL), a firm under the Mineral Sales Private Ltd (MSPL) Group, has secured a licence for gold mining on Gadag's outskirts.

This will be the first private sector gold mine in India. The company is scheduled to commence operations next fiscal.

Gadag's tryst with gold mining is more than a century old. According to Geological Society of India (an independent association of geologists) Secretary R H Sawkar, gold exploration was vigorously pursued at Gadag between 1900 and 1910 by the British.

"At the Kabulayatkatti mines, about 666 kg of gold was recovered. However, obsolete technology and poor demand for gold resulted in the closure of the mines. The Gadag field is extensive with three parallel belts of gold lodes. Numerous old workings are known throughout this belt," he pointed out.

Gadag witnessed some activity in 1962 when the government-owned Mineral Exploration Corporation Ltd (MECL) conducted geological investigations there. Though the results were said to be impressive, mining was not taken up.

In 1993, Hutti Gold Mines Ltd, a state public sector undertaking, put up a pilot plant to extract gold. But the plan had to be abandoned for various reasons.