Bhubaneswar: After Odisha minister said gold deposits had been found in 3 districts, Union Minister of Coal and Mines, Pralhad Joshi on Monday informed the Parliament about reserve of the precious metal in Deogarh.
In a written reply in Rajya Sabha, Joshi said the Geological Survey of India (GSI) had detected reserve of gold as an associated metal along with copper in Adas block of Deogarh district. The GSO made the discovery during ‘general exploration’ (G2) for base metal under Field Season Programme (FSP) 2018-19 in the block.
He further said the GSI has indicated a reserve of 0.90 MT at 0.97 ppm of ores of gold in the area. The resource- bearing geological report has been handed over to the Odisha government for auctioning. After auction of the block, the resource may be upgraded to mineable reserve by the bidders, he added.
On February 27, Odisha’s Steel and Mines Minister Prafulla Mallik had informed the Assembly that gold deposits had been detected in different parts of Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj and Deogarh districts.
The deposits of precious metal had been found at Dimirimunda, Kushakala, Gotipur and Gopur in Keonjhar district; Joshipur, Suriaguda, Ruansila, Dhushura hill in Mayurbhanj district and Adas area in Deogarh district.
The presence of gold reserves in these three districts had been found during a preliminary survey by the State Mines and Geology Directorate.
