India To Invite Bids To Extract Gold From Closed Kolar Mines

New Delhi: India is planning to revive a number of colonial-era gold mines in the country. The Union Ministry for Mines plans to invite bids to extract gold from 50 million tonnes of processed ore from a number of closed mines in Karnataka.

According to a senior official having knowledge of the matter, the Kolar fields, located about 65 km northeast of Bengaluru, are among the oldest gold mines in the country.

The Kolar mines, closed more than 20 years ago, have gold reserves worth around $2.1 billion. The present government at the Center is keen to leverage new technology that is capable of extracting gold from ore leftovers that was processed in the past.

There are plans to reopen the Kunderkocha gold mines in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand. These mines were closed in 1948 and the government has undertaken several surveys to assess the viability of resuming operations at the mines there.

Aside from gold, the Modi government also plans to extract palladium from the processed ore or dumps, the official said.

“We are looking at how to monetise these gold reserves trapped in the processed ore,” the official said. According to him, the government expects to invite bids in the next four to six months.

“Our only constraint is that only foreign companies have the technology and experience of taking out gold from processed ore, but foreign companies can always tie up with local companies or even form a consortium,” said the official who is directly involved in decision-making.

Incidentally, India is the world’s second biggest gold consumer and meets most of its demand through imports.