The Geological Survey of India (GSI) has discovered approximately 3,500 tonnes of gold reserve in Uttar Pradesh’s Sonbhadra district.
- The reserve could even go up to 5,200 tonnes. These reserves were discovered in Son Pahadi and Hardi block. The total estimated reserve of gold in Son Pahadi are estimated to be around 2943.26 tonnes, while that in Hardi block weigh 646.16 tonnes.
- The new discovred gold is five times India’s current gold reserve of 618.2 tonnes. GSI released the estimate after exploring for gold deposits in the area for nearly 20 years.
- If these estimates are proved true, India’s gold reserve would make it second behind the US. According to World Gold Council (WGC) data, the United States of America has the largest gold holding with 8,133.5 tonnes, followed by Germany with 3,366 tonnes and IMF with 2,814 tonnes.
- Besides the gold reserves, the GSI team has also found the presence of ores of other metal and minerals, including Andalusite, aluminium nesosilicate mineral (95.02 tonnes) in Pulawar and Salaidih blocks, Potash (9.46 tonnes) in Patwadh block and iron (14.97 tonnes) in Bharhari block. Sillimanite, an aluminosilicate mineral (9.8 tonnes) have also been explored in Chhipiya block of district.
Update: The Geological Survey of India (GSI) on February 22, 2020 clarified that there has been no discovery of gold deposits estimated to be around 3,000 tonnes in Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh, as was claimed by a district mining official .
