According to district mining officer KK Rai, the work on finding reserves in the district was started almost two decades back in 1992-93 by GSI.
Representational image. (photo: iStock)
The Geological Survey of India (GSI) discovered gold deposits estimated to be around 3000 tonnes worth Rs 12 lakh crore in Uttar Pradesh’s Sonbhadra district. This estimate is five times the current reserves of the precious metal that India holds.
According to district mining officer KK Rai, the work on finding reserves in the district was started almost two decades back in 1992-93 by GSI.
Gold deposits estimated to be around 2,943.26 tonnes were found in Son Pahadi, while around 646.16 kilograms at Hardi area of Sonebhadra, the officer told.
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He also said that some other minerals have also been found in the area apart from gold.
Another official involved in the survey also expected the trace of uranium in the region.
“Tonnes of uranium are expected to be found in the Kudri hill region. The GSI team has dug the hill at three locations for uranium samples,” the official told.
He further added, “Efforts are on to measure the exact depth of uranium reserves. A team of officials of the Department of Atomic Energy is engaged in the task.”
Prof Dhruvsen of the department of Geology at Lucknow University was quoted by IANS as saying, “Uranium is found in the hills of Sonbhadra. But, it is also important to know its composition. If uranium is found in a large quantity, it will make the country very strong.”
According to World Gold Council, India currently holds 626 tonnes of gold reserves and the newly found deposits are almost five times of the current status.
The process of gold hunt in Sonbhadra, which is the second-largest district in UP, was started by the Britishers.
Sonebhadra which is in the Eastern Uttar Pradesh share its borders with Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and Bihar.
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