Allot permits to gold mines where prospecting done: Geomysore

NEW DELHI: India's gold imports can be minimised to some extent if the government allows licences for mines where prospecting has been done and have potential to produce about 30 tonnes of the precious metal in a year, according to an exploration firm.

"There are around 40 mines where the prospects have been explored and drilling has been done, but mining licenses are still pending the government. These mines have the potential to produce about 30 tonnes gold in a year," said V N Vasudev, Director (Exploration), Geomysore Services (India) Pvt Ltd.

Geomysore Services (India) is a gold exploration firm, etablished in 1994 to explore and develop untapped gold resources of India. It is jointly owned by Australian Indian Resources, Perth and Sun Mining and Exploration.

India can sustain a very high level of gold production from around 2.5 tonnes a year through a Karanataka state-run firm Hutti Gold Mines, he said, adding 12th Plan Working Group on Precious Metals has proposed 45 tonnes production by 2017 and 100 tonnes per annum by 2020-25.

"A large number of foreign explorers having technical and financial whrewithal to undertake risky and expensive exploration are languishing for years to get prospecting licences. In some cases where firms have proved exploitable gold reserves, the concerned state governments have reserved such areas for their PSUs who are sitting over them," he said.

Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan are leading gold-bearing states in the country.

"The government needs to adopt a mission mode approach to remove bottlenecks and put gold on exploration and exploitation on an accelerated path to tap the potential identified in the 12th Plan document," he said.

"This alone can save huge foreign exchange outgo while creating significant employment in rural and tribal areas. We suggest the government to cretae a separate authority to look after gold prospects and nurture them to quickly become producing ventures," he said.

India's growing gold exports is causing a huge outflow of USD 60 billion annually and is one of the main reasons for high current account deficit (CAD).