BENGALURU: In the first step towards resuming the quest for gold at Kolar Gold Fields (KGF), the Centre offered to hand over the defunct Bharat Gold Mines Ltd (BGML) to the state government on Tuesday, but Karnataka chose to tread with caution as the issue of reopening of mines was dealt with by the Supreme Court in 2013.
The take-over proposal was made by a team led by Mr Balvinder Kumar, Secretary, ministry of mines, New Delhi, during a meeting with chief secretary Arvind Jadhav and Mr Nilaya Mitash, principal secretary, mines & MSME.
Top bureaucrats representing the state government, however, tossed the ball back to the court of the Union ministry of mines’ though they agreed to brief CM Siddaramaiah about the proposal and place it before the cabinet shortly.
Reason: the apex court had asked the Centre to reopen the mines through a global tender and consider the offer made by a co-operative society launched by ex-employees of BGML.
Therefore, the Centre must first inform the apex court about its intention to allow the state government to resume mining operations. Besides, the Mines & Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act stipulates that the government must take the auction route while leasing out mines.
Mr Jadhav said the issue of assets and liabilities of BGML would be placed before the cabinet along with details of the proposal presented by Union ministry.
Interestingly, the state government has sought a techno-feasibility report before May 2016 on revival of mining from JMJ Minerals Pvt Ltd, a firm launched by ex-employees of BGML, and an entity with which an ‘expression of interest’ was signed during ‘Invest Karnataka 2016’.
This firm has formed a special purpose vehicle with an Australian mining firm and several foreign financial institutions for technical and financial support for resumption of mining.
“I think state government is being cautious because some vested interests could challenge the takeover. The reopening of mines could be delayed, but it will not be derailed as we have been in constant touch with the nodal officer appointed to deal with this project by Karnataka Udyog Mitra,” says G. Jayakumar, chief executive and director, JMJ Minerals Pvt Ltd.
