The Kolar Concessionaires Soft Corporation continued mining for gold on a small scale, where Mr. Lavelle left off and its members became quite affluent with the gold that they mined. This Corporation later merged into a company called The Gold Fields of Mysore Company. This new Company, namely The Gold Fields of Mysore Company then took up prospecting for gold in earnest, and in course
of time, they acquired the entire area which is known as the Kolar Gold Fields.
In 1880, The Gold Fields of Mysore Company, contacted a British Engineering firm known as John Taylor and Sons to mine for gold in KGF on their behalf. The John Taylor and Sons Company which were instrumental in striking gold in Africa, arrived in Kolar Gold Fields and began to prospect
for gold in the Marikuppam and Oorigaum region.
After some time, The Gold Fields of Mysore Company decided to sell off their stake to the John Taylor and Sons Company for quite a good profit. Necessary approval of the Mysore British Government was obtained and they transferred all the rights and concessions to Ms.John Taylor and Sons. The John Taylor and Sons Company now became the sole owners of the entire area known as
the Kolar Gold Fields.
The firm of John Taylor and Sons now took up prospecting for gold in earnest. For three years they surveyed and tested the whole area and discovered that the entire area was rich in gold-bearing veins, extensively laden with gold deposits. Once the location and direction of the gold-bearing veins were established, the Company decided to sink shafts at different locations immediately. Captain B.D.Plummer, one of the reputed mining experts of the John Taylor and Sons Company, was brought from England, to start operations in Kolar Gold Fields.
In December 1883 the first shaft was sunk in the erstwhile Marikuppam Village and Marikuppam was renamed as Mysore Mine. The 2nd Shaft was sunk in the "Champion" Lode, which was found to be rich in gold deposits but at a very great depth and was named The Champion Reefs.
The Champion Reefs Mine is till today the second longest and deepest gold mine in the world, going down a staggering 3.2 Km below sea level. (The world's deepest gold mine is located near Johannesburg, the provincial capital of South Africa's wealthiest province).
In course of time many shafts were sunk at Nundydroog, Balaghat and Oorigaum as well and named after the British owners such as Henry's Shaft, Gifford Shaft, Bullen Shaft, Golconda Shaft, Tenants Shaft etc. Some of these shafts went down just a few hundred meters under the surface, while a good many of them went deep underground. All these shafts were connected by around 1350 kilometers of
tunnels and passages way below the surface of the earth.
The whole area was thus named the Kolar Gold Fields and was divided into different Mines for easier
management such as The Mysore Gold Mine, Champion Reef Mine, Oorigaum Mine, Nundydroog Mine, Tank Block Mine, Balaghat Mine, Gold Fields of Mysore, Coromandel Mine, Oriental Mine, Nine Reefs Mine, Road Block Mine, and the Mysore Reefs Gold Mines Company John Taylor II
Later on, all these mines were amalgamated into the four major gold mines of Champion Reefs, Marikuppam, Oorgaum, and Nandydroog, with the four major shafts in the more of Gifford's Shaft in Champion Reef, Edgar's Shaft in Marikuppam, Bullen Shaft in Oorgaum and Henry Shaft in Nandydroog as the flagship shafts of each mine.
It could be rightly said that K G F actually came into existence in the 1880s, when John Taylor and Sons, established their first shaft for systematic gold extraction. By the end of the 1880s, the success of Kolar Gold Fields was established and provided innumerable employment opportunities to many. These British Pioneers literally and figuratively struck a GOLD MINE in Kolar Gold
Fields! (No pun intended)
No comments:
Post a Comment