Phytomining of gold

The Kolar Gold Fields (KGF) in Karnataka, locally known as Bangarapet (city of gold), was a premier gold mining area in India and was operated by the Bharath Gold Mines Limited (BGML). The mines have a recorded history of nearly 200 years of operation. Owing to a faulty process of extraction, defect...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Current science (Bangalore) 2005-04, Vol.88 (7), p.1021-1022
Main Author: Mohan, B. S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
CORRESPONDENCE
Gold mining
Plants
Tailings
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:The Kolar Gold Fields (KGF) in Karnataka, locally known as Bangarapet (city of gold), was a premier gold mining area in India and was operated by the Bharath Gold Mines Limited (BGML). The mines have a recorded history of nearly 200 years of operation. Owing to a faulty process of extraction, defective and outdated technology and deep mining, there has been an escalation in the production cost of gold over time rendering it uneconomic. The production during the first decade of the last century was around 45 g/t while during 1999, it was approximately 3 g/t. Hence the union government decided to close the mines. The closure of the mines eventually created a catastrophic impact on the inhabitants of KGF. Before the closure of the mines, the government was thinking about rehabilitation measures and many expert committees visited the place and submitted alternative proposals to continue mining activities. A team headed by C. P. Nair, Chief Technical Advisor, Ministry of Steel and Mines and K. V Krishnamurthy, Deputy Director of Geological Survey of India suggested an unmined parallel reef in 1990. One of the panels had even proposed a scheme to recover gold from larger residual dumps (mounds of tailings) that had accumulated over the years. Studies have shown that there are about 33 million tonnes of dumps accumulated over the years which may be a source of 24 tonnes of gold.
ISSN:0011-3891