UNFOLDING THE BIRTH OF K.G.F.[ KOLAR GOLD FIELDS ]
In the year of 1871,MICHAEL FITZGERALD LAVELLE,a retired Iranian soldier from the British army ,had made the Bangalore cantonment his home. retirement was a drag for lavelle,who had just returned after fighting the Maori wars in new Zealand. Although he hoped to make it big post retirement ,lavelle spent much of the time by reading the article from the 1804 Asiatic journal he came across ,set lavelle on a journey that eventually birthed the world second deepest GOLDMINE [THE KOLAR GOLD MINE]
Lavelle has interest in developing the gold mining during his time, at a war in new zealand. So,he was so excited ,when an old report by one Lt john warren spoke about the gold mines of kolar.
Lt warrens encounter with KOLAR GOLD began in 1799,after Tipu sultan was killed in the battle of srirangapatanam by the British The British decided to handover tippus kingdom to the Mysore state,but for this land had to be surveyed. Warren, who was the surviving in his Mejesties 33rd regiment of foot,was summoned to kolar for this task
warren had heared rumoures of gold reserves and fables of people digging gold with their bare hands during the time of the chola dynasty .
Intrigued bu the rumoures , he announced a reward for any one who could show him the yellow mental. Soon,villages appeared before him with bulluckcarts filled with mud, which they washed in front of the officer to isolated gold powered.
After an investigation , warren concluded that for every 120 lbs or 56 KG of earth 1 grain of gold could be extracted using the villagers crude methods and in the hands of professionals , this could open of large gold reserves.
.Between 1804 and 1860, there were several studies and explorations of the gold mines in the region , but in vain ..as some explorations , in the Asiant mines led to accidents , under ground mines which prohibited by law in 1956.
But in 1871, excited about 67- years old report by LT warren, lavelle made a 60-mile bulluck cart trip to kolar. during his investigation , he identified several potential locations for mining . unlike others , he was able to find tracks Oeltref the gold deposits...
After more than 2 years of research , in 1873 , he wrote to the maha rajas government seeking a licence to mine government authorities , who believed gold explorations were not valuable only gave him permission to mine coal ,, but lavelle instead on searching for gold deposit...
should i be successful in my search , will be of greatest value to the government,,In case i fail , it will cost the government nothing has the only Asiant i require his the right to mine ...he wrote in the letter to the chief commissioner mysore and Coorg....Lavelle securing that 20 years least to mine in the Kolar..on 2nd Febrauary 1875, started the era of modern mining in india...
But more than a miner , lavelle was the poster boy of the gold rush ... Lavelle was not rich ...which limited is capabilities to explore the gold reserves ...but the vision of creating fields of gold and the dangerous gambles of mining, soon became the permise of a novel --leaving dangerously by FE penny..this made him a popular man ,,even through his savings were depleting ..
But by 1877,, the young Entreprenure was unable to scale his buissness further and was desperate to raise funds ..but due to his popularity ,,,support came from onother army man -Maj Gen beresford of the madras staff crops in Bangaluru. He along with three others --mckenzie ,sir william and col william arbuthnot--formed a syndicate with several other army officers called..The kolar Concessionaries Company Limited , which took over the mining operations
Mining engineers were invited from across the world to dig the gold in kolar and other explorations
As operation in the KGF surged ahead ,the british planned Asias' s second and India's first power plant in kolar ..officers of the royal engineers approached the Mysore Maha raja with proposa to build a hudro electric plant in kolar in cauvery river .In 1900. central electric company from new York and eicher wyss from Switzerland were given the task of establishing the power plant and 148 km of transmission lines ,the longest in the world .machinery imported ..from britain america and Germany were transported in carts pulled by elephants and horses.
soon ,the candles and kerosene lamps in KGF were replaced by bulbs ..even before bangaluru or mysore were electrified. while 2018 ,several parts of the state experienced power cuts ,by 1902. KGF had uninterrupted power supply.
As the gold reserves began to reduce ,expatriates began to leave kolar ,however key positions were held by the English until independence .When the Central government decided to take over the all the mines in 1956,ownership of most of the mines had already been handover to the state government .
The mines that produced 95% of India's gold output,were Nationalised to keep them from shutting down.However ,in 2001,despite massive protests ,K G F, were shutdown
the abandoned underground tunnels ,once pathways of gold,are now flooded with ground water.DESPITE government plans and multiple courts orders the resurrection of the KGF seems far-fetched .
Thus ,even though KGF continues to bear gold in its belly,the cost of retrieving it would be greater than the value of the gold itself.
NOTICE: DURING THIS ARTICLE SOME OF THE INFORMATION HAS BEEN TAKEN FROM THE NEWS MINUTE.
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