India mulls reviving colonial-era gold mines with $2 billion reserves

Jon Banking, Economy, Energy, Gold, Government, Precious Metals

India is planning to revive a cluster of colonial-era gold mines – shut for 15 years but with an estimated $2.1-billion worth of deposits left – as the world’s second-largest importer of the metal looks for ways to cut its trade deficit, officials said.
State-run Mineral Exploration has started exploring the reserves at Kolar Gold Fields, in the southern state of Karnataka, to get a better estimate of the deposits, according to three government officials and a briefing document prepared by the federal mines ministry that was seen by Reuters.
The Ministry has also appointed investment bank SBI Capital to assess the finances of the defunct state-run Bharat Gold Mines, which controls the mines, and the dues the company owes to workers and the authorities, said the officials, who are involved in the process.
India, the world’s biggest gold importer behind China, spends more than $30-billion a year buying gold from abroad, making the metal its second-biggest import item after crude oil.

This post was published at Mining Weekly