The Indian sub continent has 'Kolar Gold Fields' located to the south of Bangarpet taluk (previously known ad Bowringpet) in the state of 'Karnataka'. The gold lodes of Kolar Gold Fields lie in a narrow bond of rocks of Dharwar Series. But the origin of this 'El-dorado' of the recent times has many instances in history.

History of mining at KGF

JOHN TAYLOR III
The Founder of Mining Industry in Kolar Gold Fields

Gold has always fascinated mankind, may be this fascination is reflected in the historic references of mining at KGF. It's believed that the 'Kolar Gold Fields' have been mined for gold during the last 2000 years or so.
The tradition of mining gold started at least as early as the first millennium B C. The Champion reef at the Kolar gold fields was mined to a depth of 50 m during the Gupta period in the fifth century A.D. The metal was continued to be mined by the eleventh century kings of South India, the Vijayanagar Empire from 1336 to 1560 and later by Tipu Sultan. It is estimated that the total gold production in Karnataka to date is 1000 tons.

Renewed interest in the Kolar Goldfields occurred towards the end of the nineteenth century. The ancient gold workings, which may be 200 years old and the workings of Tipu Sultan were located by Captain Warren in 1802 and started in 1864 by Michael F. Lavelle. John Taylor & Company did much of the prospecting.

The above is an extract from the article 'THE GOLDEN HERITAGE OF KARNATAKA written by Mr. S. Ranganathan, Department of Metallurgy, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore

The most important mines are:

- The Mysore Gold Mine
- Champion Reef Mine
- Ooregum Mine
- Nundydroog Mine
- Tank Block Mine
- Balaghat Mine
- Gold Fields of Mysore
- Coromandel Mine
- Oriental Mine
- Nine Reefs Mine
- Road Block Mine
- Mysore Reefs Gold Mines Coy

The deepest Shafts:

Giffords Shaft.

Interesting Facts:

1. An English mining firm, John Taylor & Sons in 1880, started the systematic mining for gold.
2. The first hydroelectric project in S India was built in 1902 to provide electricity for the gold fields.
3. In the year 1902 the suburb of Robertson pet was established
4. The mines were taken over by the Government of Mysore in 1956
5. The mines were taken over by the Government of India in 1962
6. Scientific Experiments: When physicists installed nuclear-particle detectors deep in a mine in the Kolar Gold Fields in India, they hoped to measure particles created by highly penetrating neutrinos arriving from cosmic sources. They found instead immense showers of nuclear particles coming, not from above as expected, but from the sides and even below! These huge Showers of 1,000 or more assorted particles are called "anomalous cascades." Neutrinos are the only known particles capable of penetrating the entire earth to create upwardly directed showers, but ordinary neutrinos do not seem to have enough energy to give birth to the anomalous cascades.

Legend:

There is a legend about the discovery of gold in KGF, Once upon a time hundreds of years ago when the chera dynasty ruled the south in general a poor shepherd was walking in this region and a violent wind blew to raise the dust from the callous dry ground of this hilly rock region. Unable to see anything the shepherd tumbled on a rock and when the dust settled down the shepherd found a treasure lying in front of eyes, the treasure was huge enough to make him a king, the shepherd then named his kingdom as Kolar.

This legend has no proof; it just comes to us as folk tales in the mouth of some old villagers.

Social Life:

As a British mining colony the social life of people at KGF was greatly influenced by the British culture. The social sector of 'Kolar Gold Fields' largely constituted of the working class laborers who were migrants from the neighboring state of Tamilnadu, the British and a few neighboring village folks.

The people here have seen lavish and extravagant social life of the British, people say there used be summer balls, Christmas eves, skating rings, buggies for the rich folks to travel, green pastures, golf courses and many more things that made this mini land a wonderful paradise to look at.
Even today the giant oak trees, the barren bungalows and many other reminiscent of the past intone the tales of this lost extravagance.

There are always two sides of a coin, if one side of it was the splendid life described above, the other side includes the struggle of the mineworkers and their life style.

This segment of people lived in tiny quarters designed for them, the men in the families were most obviously the mineworkers who used to go under the ground, several feet below the earth, in the depths of darkness to bring out the glittering gold. There have always been several instances of tragic incidents of accidents inside the mine that has left many workers physically handicapped; there have been cases of loss of life as well. These men have also been susceptible to occupational diseases related to the respiratory system.

This place has nurtured the religious beliefs of many; it's a host for a large number of churches and temples. Many religious festivals are conducted with a lot of harmony may if be the 'Mary's fest' in the church of ' Mother of Mines' or the ' Pushpa Palak' the chariot of a Hindu God.

Geographic location:
Altitude:
Hill surroundings: Betraya hills, Etc
100km from Bangalore, the capital of Karnataka
the city is also surrounded by many tourist spots

Population:
In the year 1891 the population was 7,085
In the year 1901 the population was 37,964
In the year 1991 the population was 83,287

Major languages:
Kannada, Tamil, other languages in prominence are Telugu

Occupations:
The occupation in the region has mainly been that of the mineworkers, but there have always been other occupations that support life, this includes small businesses etc.
The recent developments like the establishment of Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML) has generated an alternative source of employment for a lot of people.

Present state:

The city has lost some parts of its ancient glory in terms of the natural scenic beauty. The closure of the BGML mines has given rise to a lot of issues, from unemployment to social unrest. The cyanide dumps that have been deposited here since inception of mines today are causing environmental hazard. There have been developments in various domains to improve the state of living in KGF but not enough to call them achievements. But we believe in rays of hope that will soon span the city.