GSI: Extractable gold in Sonbhadra about 160kg

KOLKATA/LUCKNOW: The Geological Survey of India (GSI) has said there has been no discovery of gold deposits of around 3,000 tonne in Sonbhadra district of UP, as claimed by a district mining official. “GSI has not estimated such kind of vast resource of gold deposits in Sonbhadra district. Such data has not been given by us,” GSI director general M Sridhar said on Saturday in Kolkata.
Sridhar added exploration for gold carried out in Sonbhadra region between 1998 and 2000 had not been encouraging.Sonbhadra district mining officer K K Rai had on Friday created a sensation when he claimed huge gold deposits had been found in Son Pahadi and Hardi. According to him, the deposits in Son Pahadi was estimated to be around 2,943.26 tonne, while that at Hardi block was 646.16 kg.
Sridhar said in its report after exploration in the district, GSI has estimated a probable category resource of 52,806.25 tonne of ore with 3.03 gm per tonne gold (average grade) for a strike length of 170m in Sub-Block-H, Son Pahadi. The total gold which can be extracted from the total resource is approximately 160kg and not 3350 tonne, as mentioned in news reports, the GSI clarified in a statement. The GSI DGM is likely to hold a press conference in Lucknow on Monday to clarify the issue.