The History of KGF

                                  KGF The gold mine was once the pride of India. A Kannada film that has been released in theaters by the end of 2018 and has been a huge success. Besides Kannada, the film has also been translated into four languages. Do you know what this KGF is? Anyone who has seen the film knows that it is a gold mine. KGF is the short form of Kolar Gold Fields. Most of the people who saw the movie thought that it was a fictional creation. But be aware, there is such a gold mine in India. The truth is that there was. The mine was located at Kolar in Karnataka. Actually what happened to KGF? Today let's talk about kgf.

                                 Gold is a precious metal that has been known since prehistoric times. B.C Egyptian hieroglyphics from 2600 mention that gold was abundant in Egypt. Historically, Egypt and Nubia have been the world's largest gold producers. Gold is mentioned many times in the Old Testament of the Bible. The history of gold production dates back to the Etruscan, Minoan, Assyrian, and Egyptian civilizations. At that time, gold was produced by sifting sand and gravel from river basins. Gold has been mined in India since ancient times in Central Asia, the southern Ural Mountains, and the eastern Mediterranean coast. Gold was firstly mined and used in India. That place is Kolar in Karnataka.

                               The Kolar Gold Mine (KGF) is located at a distance of about 50 km from Bangalore, the capital of Karnataka. Historical records show that gold was mined in this mine during the reign of the Chola Empire in the 1st century BC and from 900 AD to 1000 AD during the Vijayanagara Empire in the 16th century and during the reign of Tipu Sultan, King of Mysore in the second half of the 18th century. The mine was later captured by the British from Tipu Sulthan.  Hence it is named KGF.

                                  In 1802 Lieutenant John Warren studied and reported on gold deposits in the area during a survey for the British East India Company.  In 1873 Modern mining started here. The excavations were carried out by a British company, John Taylor and Sons. Gold production in the KGF increased as the British took over. It is one of the deepest mines in India.  The gold was mined 3 kilometers below the surface of the earth. Only a few mines in Africa surpass Kolar in terms of depth. The British supplied electricity to the KGF even at a time when electricity was not active in India. The KGF was headquartered in RobertsonPete.

                                 After independence, the KGF came under the control of the Government of India. The then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru sought a loan from the World Bank for the development of the country, But the World Bank denied India a loan due to lack of security. But Nehru said that they had the most valuable thing in their hands and KGF gave as security. Recognizing the huge value of KGF, the World Bank granted a loan to India.

                             The KGF, the world's second-largest gold mine, required a large number of workers. Most of the KGF workers came from south India.  As the workers were from distant lands, they settled in the KGF itself.The life of the people in KGF was with better facilities, different from what is shown in the movie. In addition to the workers, the mine engineers, supervisors, and geologists all stayed at KGF with their families.  As a result, it had all the amenities of a small colonial city, including places of worship, schools, hospitals, clubs, and bars. It still reminds me of the pride of that past.

                                 At that time, there were job opportunities and better wages in Kolar. The other workers in India got eight dams, in Kolar, the daily wage was one and a half rupees. The ancients testify that the Kolar was more comfortable than Dubai it is today. Later, Bharat Gold Mines, a public sector mining company, took over KGF. However, in March 2001, the company ceased operations at KGF, citing operating losses. The company was reportedly shut down due to declining mineral deposits and rising production costs. Many workers lost their jobs when the mine ceased operations. The workers, who had come from different places and lived there for a long time, were given the quarters owned by the company.

                               There is also a railway line from the Bengaluru - Chennai railway line to KGF. KGF residents still depend heavily on this railway line to travel to Bengaluru for work and other purposes. The 140-year-old Kolar gold mine still has  millions worth of gold left. The Mineral Exploration Corporation is inspecting to gather accurate information on the remaining gold deposits in the mines. For the last 18 years, the Karnataka and Central Governments have been trying to restart the mine. In addition, the government has asked SBI Capital to calculate the liabilities of Bharat Gold Mines. India imports 900 to 1000 tonnes of gold a year. GDP is just two to three percent. The government estimates that this will increase with the resumption of mining operations.

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