The gold mines in Kolar are located about 100 km away from Bengaluru city. When it was operational, it was the world’s second deepest gold mine with mining activity being conducted at a depth of 3,000 ft. The mines were active for 121 years and closed in February 2001.
In 2001, the Board for Industrial and Financial Closure had called for shutting down the mines. However, in 2009, a single-bench judge of the Karnataka High Court issued an order permitting the sale of BGML by inviting global tenders in order to revive the company. The issue was appealed in the Supreme Court in 2013, which permitted the Union government to revive the mines itself. After its closure, in 2013, the Union government had sought to sell BGML to private entities. The Union government had then directed BGML to conduct a study of dumps and mines. In 2019, the Union government submitted to the Supreme Court that it would take nine months to complete a feasibility study, which was being conducted by MECL. In August this year, the report was submitted to the government, after which the announcement was made by the Union Minister.
However, sources with the Department of Mines and geology said that optimization of operations at BGML could occur efficiently only if the company is privatized. “Instead of using public funds to revive it, if it is privatized and the government enters into a profit-sharing agreement with the company, the government stands to benefit more as the taxpayers will not have to bear operations costs. But this too is a point of contention right now,” the senior official said.
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