Andhra Pradesh will emerge as the largest supplier of gold to the country in a few years, an official said on Thursday, citing estimated reserves of 50 tonnes at Jonnagiri village in Kurnool district alone.
Addressing a press conference, Mukesh Kumar Meena, principal secretary (Mines) said that apart from Jonnagiri, the state has identified four potential areas for gold mining, including Ramagiri, Javvakula and Chigurukunta Bisnatam.
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"Our estimate is that 50 tonnes of gold are available in Jonnagiri itself. So, we are confident that after a few years, we (Andhra Pradesh) will become the highest supplier of gold for the country," Meena told PTI.
Observing that commercial production of gold commenced at Jonnagiri, he said 1,500 acres were allotted for gold mining in this Kurnool village almost a decade ago.
Out of these 1,500 acres, Meena observed that exploration was undertaken only in about 500 acres, where up to 13 tonnes of gold was estimated to be available.
Gold exploration in the remaining 1,000 acres is pending, which will also begin, pegging the total gold reserves estimates in Jonnagiri alone to be at 50 tonnes, the official said.
Underscoring that gold mining is a capital-intensive and expertise-heavy activity, Meena justified the government entrusting gold mining to private players through tenders.
Further, he highlighted that the recovery of gold has plummeted massively over the years, yielding only a gram of gold on processing a tonne of mined material.
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Earlier, he noted that a tonne of mined material used to yield three grams of gold, observing that a yield threshold below 0.8 grams was not economical.
Further, he said Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu will launch Jonnagiri gold mining officially later this month.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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