Kolar Gold Fields

Vorlage:Infobox Indian Jurisdiction Vorlage:Unreferenced

Kolar Gold Fields (Vorlage:Lang-kn) is a town in Bangarpet Taluk of Kolar District of Karnataka state, India. It includes the township of the same name, viz. KGF, where reside mainly the families of the employees of BGML. To the east of KGF is a ridge of hills of which Dod Betta hill, 3195 feet above sea level, is the most conspicuous point. KGF is about 30 km from Kolar and 100 km from Bangalore.

The gold mines of KGF were closed down by BGML in 2001 due to reducing deposits and increasing costs. Since then a bitter struggle is being waged by the ex-employees of BGML against the Ministry of Mines both inside the courts and outside to revive the mines. In September 2003 the Karnataka High Court directed the government to hand over the mines to the employees and in December, 2006 the Ministry undertook in court to do so at a market determined price. In July, 2009 after protracted litigation, the High Court of Karnataka finalized the terms and procedure of transfer but the government is still to act on the same. It appears now that the government may well recant from its earlier position and so the future of the Kolar gold mines is uncertain.

According to experts, the resources now remaining under the ground are only about 3 million tonnes of gold ore of low to very low quality i.e <4 g/t.. If re-opened, the mine may provide a yield of about 12 tonnes of gold or about 1 tonne a year for 12 years, but the capital investment required will be quite heavy.

History

The tradition of mining gold at Kolar started at least as early as the first millennium BC with linkages to the Indus Valley Civilization. Golden objects found in Harappa and Mohenjo-daro have been traced to KGF through the “impurities-analysis” assay as the impurities include 11% silver concentration, found only in KGF ore. The Champion reef at the Kolar gold fields was mined to a depth of 50 m during the Gupta period in the fifth century A.D. Subsequently, the metal continued to be mined during the Chola period in the 9th and 10th century AD, the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565 and later by Tipu Sultan, the of Mysore state. The scale of the operations grew at each stage by the digging of small to large pits. Vorlage:Citation needed

Renewed interest in the Kolar Goldfields occurred towards the beginning of the nineteenth century. The ancient gold workings, other workings which may have been 200 to 600 years old and the workings of Tipu Sultan were all located by Captain Warren in 1802. In 1873, M.F. Lavelle, a resident in Bangalore, applied to the Mysore Government for the exclusive privilege of mining in the Kolar district. His request was granted and he commenced operations by sinking a shaft near Uirgam (Oorgaum) in 1875, but, finding that large capital would be required, in the following year and with the approval of the government, Lavalle transferred all his rights and concessions to Major General G. de la Poer Beresford. General Beresford formed a syndicate known as the Kolar Concessionaries which took up the matter in earnest, and gradually acquired most of the area now known as the Kolar Gold Fields. However, large-scale mining only came in the 1850s under the British John Taylor & Company which did much of the prospecting and mining with more skilled manpower and sophisticated machinery.

The principal Mines in the Gold Fields starting with Michael F. Lavelle in 1864 to the mines developed by John Taylor & Company up to 1905 were : Mysore Gold Mine, Champion Reef Mine (which eventually became the second deepest underground mine in the world at 3200 mtrs depth), Oorgaum Mine, , Tank Block Mine, Balaghat Mine, , Coromandel Mine, Oriental Mine, Nine Reefs Mine, Road Block Mine and t Nundydroog Mine. Later, after 1956 BGML amalgamated the Champion and Mysore mines and started the Yeppamana and Old Baisanathan Mines.

The mines were taken over by the Government of Mysore in 1956 and by the Ministry of Finance, Government of India in 1962. They were handed over to the government company called Bharat Gold Mines Limited under the Ministry of Mines in 1972. The Bharat Gold Mines Limited has thus come out of various combinations and permutations. The company has the record of having Morarji Desai as its chairman (when it was with the Finance Ministry) and some of the erstwhile chief Ministers of Mysore State (when it was with the government of Mysore).

Birth of the city

It is said that The local Kannada villagers refused to work in the deep pits of the mines and so people from the North and South Arcot districts of Tamil Nadu and certain parts of Andhra Pradesh like chittoor, madhana palli and ananthapur were settled around the various Shafts. In course of time these habitations expanded to merge into each other to form the outer reaches of the town of KGF. In the core of the town were the families of British engineers, geologists and mine supervisors who lived a grand colonial lifestyle complete with golf course, tennis court, club with dance halls and bars, cottages and Bungalows with gardens and quarters for the employees and churches and chapels. The ruins of these structures and some memorabilia continue to exist even today. Many places in the area have names reminiscent of the raj. The two main townships which came up subsequently in KGF were Robertsonpet and Andersonpet, named after two British officers in the mines.

Demographics

Three hundred thousand people lived in the Kolar Gold Fields when the mine was at its peak production, but since the closing of mines in 2003 the population has reduced to less than a hundred thousand. The older generation of Kolar employees are staying on in the hope that the mines will revive but the younger generation is either moving away to Bangalore or commuting to Bangalore.

People and culture

Vorlage:Empty section Population in predominately Tamil. There are good numbers of Telugu and Kannada speakers. Most of the sign boards are Tamil and Kannada. people are very generous

Education

KGF has an Engineering College which is Dr. T. Thimmaiah Institute of Technology (Formerly known as Golden Valley Institute of Technology - GVIT) , a Dental College which is KGF College of Dental Science & Hospital, a Law College and also a number of good schools. KGF also has the National Institute of Rock Mechanics (NIRM) which is run by the Ministry of Mines with the help of GSI and IBM.

Pre-University Colleges. Jain College. KGF First Grade College. Subhashini Womens College.

Top Schools. Kendriya Vidhyalya (BEML Nagar). St Joseph's Girls Convent. St Teresa's Girls high School. St Mary's Boys School. Sumathi Jain Boys School. BGML High School. Sri Namperumal High School. BEML High School. William Richards High school

Climate

KGF was known as "Little England" by the British, due to its more temperate weather and a landscape more similar to Britain's.you can still see the old british styled bunglows which gives a small glimpse of british culture The city is on the Deccan Plateau of central and south India, about 3000 feet above sea level

BEML

The Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML) a Public Sector Undertaking under the Ministry of Defence set up a large manufacturing unit in KGF. It manufactures a variety of heavy equipment used for earth moving, transportation and mining such as trucks, tractors, trailers and excavators. BEML was incorporated in May 1964, and commenced operations on January 1, 1965. It was wholly owned and operated by India's Ministry of Defence until 1992, when the government divested 25% of its holdings in the company.

BEML picked up about 1100 acres of prime land from BGML on Lease which expires in 2013. BGML has claimed that the Lease terms were not honoured by BEML and has asked BEML to return the land. On the land are located two of BGML’s workshops. The matter is currently in court. BEML is also manufacturing metro cars for DMRC and BMRC. BEML has a education society which runs BEML Composite Junior College , which is very famous.

At Present

The city has lost much of its glory in terms of the natural scenic beauty and the English hill station like ambience. The closure of the BGML mines and lack of governmant support has given rise to a lot of issues, such as unemployment, deterioration in civic amenities, etc all leading to social unrest. There have been no attempts to improve living conditions in KGF and neither the state government nor the central government seem to care. The cyanide dumps comprising the overburden resulting from mining, deposited here since inception of the mines till closure, are causing environmental hazards to the people and the bio-diversity of the region. The request of the ex-employees for permission to extract the low quality gold from these dumps continues to be rejected by the government.

Interesting facts

Datei:Cyanide rocks.jpg

Cyanide at KGF

The first hydroelectric project in S India was built in 1902 to provide electricity for the gold fields.
- Kolar Gold Fields was the second city in Asia to get electricity after Tokyo, Japan, from Shivanasamudra Hydo electric project in Mandya District, Karnataka.
People from as far as Kolar could see the lights of this once prosperous city
KGF was known as "Little England" by the British, due to its more temperate weather and a landscape more similar to Britain's. It also had a sizable Anglo-Indian Population who worked in the various mines in different capacities.
The city is on the Deccan Plateau of central and south India, about 3000 feet above sea level
The Champion Reefs mine was the second deepest underground mine in the world when it was operational reached a depth of 3200mts.
Silicosis, a form of pneumoconiosis caused by inhalation of crystalline silica dust, was first identified in KGF
Longest passenger train in the world is "Swarna Express" going from KGF to Bangalore.
National Institute of Miners Health had its headquarters in KGF
One can see the old British bungalows and buildings even today in good shape in KGF.

In the year 1902 the suburb of Robertson pet was established.

The mines were taken over by the Government of mysore in 1956.
The mines were taken over by the Government of India in 1962.
S. Manjunath, the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) manager who was murdered for exposing corruption hailed from KGF.
KGF played a major part in the prosperity of the British Empire
'Vijay Shree' awardee K.M. Divakaran is from KGF.
Shram Shri Award by Govt of India -V.Natarajan of Bharat Earth Movers Ltd
The brilliant Indian artist John Wilkins was born here.
The particle experiments at Kolar Gold Fields, performed by a collaboration of particle physicists from Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai, Osaka City University, Japan and Durham University, UK recorded the first cosmic ray neutrino interaction in an underground laboratory in KGF mines in 1965.
KGF also has the distinction of having a Golf course started by the Britisher's dating back to 1885 and affiliated to Indian Golf Union
KGF is the birthplace of Magsaysay Awardee Jockin Arputham, the founder and president of the National Slum Dwellers Federation (India)

KGF club is the most sought after club because of its affiliation with other national and international clubs.

Places of interest in and around KGF

External links