The full form of KGF is Kolar Gold Fields.The Kolar Gold Fields were the largest gold mining fields at a time.And almost 90 percent gold in India was mined from this Kolar Gold Fields.It has the history of 121 years old.But now it is closed since 20 years.It was famous that anyone can mine gold from KGF with his hand only and without any disruption, can get a lot of gold with hands only,no need of heavy tools and all .
Searches,Reports and Articles
Searches were done in late 1700s and even in 1804 , their was a journal found written about KGF.But at that time, there were no technologies much for doing mining into it.So until 1871, there was no mining done into KGF.
World’s Second Deepest Mine
The Kolar Gold Fields are counted of the world’s second deepest mine The first deepest mine of world is South Africa’s Poneng Gold Mine.Recently a movie sequal on the KGF is released and audiences are loving it.The first part of the movie was also loved by the audience. KGF shown in the movie is 30 kilometre away from the head quarters of Karnataka’s Kolar district.
Many Stories Are About It
There are many stories famous about the KGF. A retired Leutenent John Waren of British Government heard these stories and came here.To know the reality of KGF , John gave a challenge to the villagers that the person who can mine gold then he would give some reward.To get the reward , the villagers started mining and took soil from the mine into bullock carts. John started testing it.
The Surprised John
To the surprise of John, the soil contained a lot of gold into it.At that times, John mined 56 kilograms of gold from the KGF.But between 1804 to 1860 , many trials done their but there were no results and after hard work on mining and not getting any result, the mining became stopped. Also there were many deaths which became the strong reason for stoppage of the mining of gold from KGF.
Research Starts Again
In 1871, the research started again . One more britisher came to know about the KGF after reading some article about the KGF in a journal.He become excited and came to India.He started searching for gold in the KGF and pointed out some spots where he could mine gold from those spots in the KGF.And he was successful in finding the spots in the KGF.
King of Maisoor
In 1873, John seeked license permission from the king of Maisoor . The king generated the license on 2nd feb 1875 and then John found investors for this work and asked the British company John Tayler and Sons to mine holly the KGF at their sole description and so on the gold mining starts in the KGF.
India on 6th Position
At that times, India’s 90-95 percent gold was mined from KGF only and thus India became on the sixth number on producing or mining goldin the world.
John Tayler And Sons
The John Taylor and Sons have been handed over the KGF in 1880 and they brought it to state of art mining engineering.By 1902 , KGF produced more than 95 percent of India’s gold.The machinaries set by John Taylor And Sons were usable till 1990 even.
Britishers’ Control
In 1930s the gold started declining from the KGF .And till the independence of India, it was only under the control of Britishers.And they used it at its fuller utilisation to export more and more old from the KGF , they literally looted a lot of gold from India and this made very huge losses to India. In 1972, Indian government took control under – Bharat Gold Mines Limited (BGML) , a public sector undertaking. The mine complex hosted some particle physics experiments between the 1960s and 1992.
What after Independence
After independence , in 1956, the Kolar Gold Fields became controlled by the Central Government.And since then its in indian control but their is no mining done in the KGF because their is alot of water flooded in the mining holes which were made at that time to mine golds.
Read Our Other Blog :- https://foxbugg.com/what-are-cookies-on-the-site
Experts’ suggestions
Community and Environment
Their live more than 2.5 lacs people there today.Most generations or say descendents are of those people who did worked here in the mines previously.It was very difficult in 1880s to work here and there were no equipments for entering for labourers , thus it is said that till date 6000 people died due to entering problem . Their were man made equipments in the mines to do work of mining or other works. People faced so many challenges over these fields to enter and work and then to find gold from here.
Mini England
One of India’s first power – generation units was built in 1889 to support mining oprations.Kolar had an uninterrupted power supply before any city in India.British officers, residences , hospitals , club houses , golf courses , all modern amenities were built their in Kolar.
The mine workers though , lived in coolie lanes. They beared the high temperatures underground that is 40-45 degrees centigrades and humidity become 90-95 percent. There were no air conditioning systems so that to keep down the temperature of underground lowered till human relevance.
Electricity and Power Plant
Bangluru and Maisoor cities were high standard living cities but still they didn’t had electricity and at that times the Kolar city was fully electrified . Even India’s first hydro-electric power plant was based near Kaveri river.After few times, the it improved and more proper machines and air pumping stations were set in KGF.
Gold Treasure
In the initial stage , the gold was found at upper level of the fields but till early 1900s the mine became 1 kilometre deep.But through 1980s it became 3 kilometres deep down in the mine which is ten thousand feets underground.And there was very high temperature and 90-95% humidity that a person couldn’t bear.
The Pyroclastic Rocks
Pyroclastic rocks means rocks formed due to volcanic lava.And these are found in Kolar and thus very important geographical aspect for India.
Shut Down of Mine
The mine closed on 28 feb 2001.The KGM yielded 47 grams of gold per tonne of ore during 1881-1890.However , during 1990’s the returns were 3 gram per tonne due to the depletion of the high grade ore reserve and increase in production costs.Scientific mine closure procedures were not followed.Today also the people of KGF are facing losses because the work has been shut down and operations have been stopped since long time.The area of mining operations have become ghost town now that means no one is there.
From Mini England to Hell
When the mine was operational, the area didn’t experience any power cuts and water shortage.After the gold has finished , the area has lost its glitter too as there is neither proper electricity supply nor drinking water.The labourers who used to work in these mines live in poverty without any financial and health aid from the government.Residents live in shanties smaller than 100 sq feet in over 400 colonies .