Snakes pose threat in Sonbhadhra goldmine

Sonbhadra, a Naxal-infested backward district of Uttar Pradesh, has struck a very large reserves of gold estimated to be not less than 3,000 tonnes of the yellow metal worth over Rs 12 lakh crore.

These reserves are almost five times India’s total gold reserves of 626 tonnes as per the World Gold Council. The hunt for the gold reserves had begun in the Sonbhadra district in 1992-93 after the central Geological Survey of India (GSI) took over the work.

The Naxal menace apart, exploration of gold from the mines, discovered jointly by the GSI and the state’s Directorate of Geology, will pose problems since the gold is apparently seen as protected by the most poisonous snakes, including krait, Russell’s viper and cobra whose bite

LUCKNOW: The GSI on Saturday said that the goldmines found in Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh could fetch only 160 kg gold.

The FPJ in its 21 February edition has published the story “Yogi strikes gold in Sonbhadra”. GSI Director General (DG) M Sridhar explained in a press statement Saturday, “We had carried out

can cause instant death. The Son Pahadi, a hill, is full of the snakes

The gold has been found in the Son Pahadi in the Mahuli region and Hardi village in the Kone region. The UP government has ordered geo-taging of the entire region and a 7-member study team was supposed to submit its report to the Directorate of Geology and several exploration work in Sonbhadra in 1998-2000 and estimated a probable resource of 52,800 tonnes of ore in Son Pahadi with the concentration of 3 grams gold per tonne.” “The total gold which can be extracted from the total resource is approximately 160 kg and not 3,350 tonnes as mentioned in the section of media,” says the GSI.

Mining, Lucknow by this Saturday.

In a related development, the GSI has estimated the reserves of Uranium, another precious material, in the Myopar block of Sonbhadra district, estimating not less than 100 tonnes. It is busy establishing the depth at which the precious material for nuclear arms and power is available.