No Discovery of Around 3000-Tonne Gold Deposits in Sonbhadra: GSI

Sonbhadra district mining officer had said on Friday that gold deposits were found in Son Pahadi and Hardi areas.

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(Update: This story has been updated to reflect GSI’s denial on gold deposits of around 3,000 tonnes being found in Uttar Pradesh’s Sonbhadra district. Earlier, news agency PTI had reported on the discovery by quoting Sonbhadra district mining officer KK Rai)

The Geological Survey of India (GSI) on Saturday, 22 February, said there has been no discovery of gold deposits estimated to be around 3,000 tonnes in Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh, as claimed by a district mining official.

"Such data was not given by anybody from GSI.... GSI has not estimated such kind of vast resource of gold deposits in Sonbhadra district," GSI Director General M Sridhar told PTI in Kolkata on Saturday evening.

“We share our findings regarding any resources of ore after conducting survey with the state units.... We (GSI, Northern Region) had carried out work in that region in 1998-99 and 1999-2000. The report was shared with UP DGM for information and further necessary action.”

GSI Director General M Sridhar

Rejecting the claim, Sridhar said that in its report after exploration in the district “the GSI has estimated a probable category resource of 52,806.25 tonnes of ore with 3.03 grams per tonne gold (average grade) for a strike length of 170m in Sub- Block-H, Son Pahadi of Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh”.

Rejecting the claim, Sridhar said that in its report after exploration in the district “the GSI has estimated a probable category resource of 52,806.25 tonnes of ore with 3.03 grams per tonne gold (average grade) for a strike length of 170m in Sub- Block-H, Son Pahadi of Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh”.

The exploration works of the GSI for gold was not satisfactory and the results were not encouraging to come up with major resources for gold in Sonbhadra district, he added.

Sonbhadra district mining officer KK Rai had said on Friday that the gold deposits were found in Son Pahadi and Hardi areas of the district.

The deposits in Son Pahadi are estimated to be around 2,943.26 tonnes, while that at Hardi block are around 646.16 kilogram, the official said.

"The mineralised zone having an average grade of 3.03 grams per tonne of gold is tentative in nature and the total gold which can be extracted from the total resource of 52,806.25 tonnes of ore is approximately 160 kg and not 3,350 tonnes as mentioned in the media," the DG clarified.

The Geological Survey of India (GSI) has discovered gold deposits estimated to be around 3,000 tonnes and worth Rs 12 lakh crore in Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh, almost five times India’s current reserve of the yellow metal.

The gold deposits were found in Son Pahadi and Hardi areas, district mining officer KK Rai said on Friday, 21 February.