Sonbhadra (UP): The Geological Survey of India claimed to have found gold deposits of around 3500 tonnes at two locations in Uttar Pradesh's Sonbhadra district.
"Nearly 3000 metric tonnes of gold deposits have been found at Sonpahadi near Panari revenue village, while 650 million tonnes of gold deposits have been found at Hardi field," district mining officer KK Rai informed.
Apart from gold, deposits of various other valuable minerals like iron and potash were also found in the district.
Issuing directions to the district administration, Uttar Pradesh Mining director Roshan Jacob said that ahead of the auction of blocks, a seven-member team has been constituted for the geo-tagging of the mineral sites.
He said that the team will hand over its report to the director by February 22, following which the report would be forwarded to the Centre by the state government. The auction process would begin once the above is done.
The Centre has to direct the state government to issue tenders. Only after the tenders are approved, will permission for mining be granted.
According to reports, the GSI had continuously been working in this direction from 2005 to 2012. Though, the presence of gold was confirmed in 2012 itself, solid work has begun only now.
