Gold Reserves Found in three Districts of Odisha,Auction of blocks in process :Minister BB Jena

By B.Maharana
Bhubaneswar, August ,22
Gold reserves have been found in some districts of Odisha informed Minister of Steel, Mines and Work Bibhuti Bhusan Jena informed the the Odisha Assembly on Thursday.
During question hour, Minister Bibhuti Bhushan Jena said that gold deposits have been discovered in the Gopur-Gazipur area of Keonjhar district and surveys are underway at Mankadchuan, Salekana and Dimirimunda areas.
The gold deposits were discovered by the Geological Survey of India at the G-2 level in the Adas ,Rampalli area of Deogarh district in the state.
The surveys of the Directorate of Mines and Geological Survey Of India (GSI) revealed the presence of Gold reserves in three districts including Deogarh, Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj.
The process for auction of the mineral blocks is underway, the minister said.
Similarly, survey work is in process to ascertain the gold reserves in seven places in Mayurbhanj district at Jashipur, Suriaguda, Ruansi, Idelkucha, Maredihi, Sulaipat and Badampahad areas of the Mayurbhanj district.Gold reserves have also been found in some places in Sundergarh, Nabarangpur, Angul, Koraput, Malkangiri, Sambalpur, and Boudh districts.
According to initial survey of geological data based on the information obtained from the preliminary survey in the Gopur-Gazipur area of Keonjhar district identified in 1981-83 and 1989-96.,there is gold reserves in these areas .
A survey is being conducted from 2021-2022 at the G-2 level in collaboration with the Geological Survey of India and the Directorate of Mines and Geology.
The minister said that survey work is going on to identify gold reserves at the G-4 and G-3 levels by Odisha Mining Corporation in Mankadchuan, Salekana, and Dimirimunda areas.
The minister said that the government has no plans at present to open a processing unit by extracting gold from the mines as the quality of gold is yet to be ascertained.