Background History

Jonnagiri greenstone belt is part of Eastern Dharwar Craton and known for gold mineralization which has been exploited since ancient times. Old debris and pounding marks indicate that the area has been worked by the ancients for recovering gold. These ancient workings attracted the attention of the Geological Survey of India to carry out detailed investigation in 1991- 1994.

The exploration work by Geological Survey of India (GSI) led to the dentification of five blocks viz.; Gavanikonda, Dona West, Dona East, North and South blocks of which the Dona West and East blocks were found to have significant potential for gold mineralization. The exploration by GSI involved 3297.65 m of diamond core drilling in West block and 5183.20 m of drilling in the East block. Based on drilling results GSI estimated a gross probable reserve of 0.446 million tonnes with an average grade of 4.27 g/t Au for Dona West block. Similarly, a probable reserve of 7.77 million tonnes at 1.79 g/t Au was estimated between 410 m to 230 m RL in East block.

In West block, gold mineralization was established within silicified metabasalt over a strike length of 700 m. In East block, which is located 1.2km East-South-East of West block the major rock type belongs to granodiorite-tonalite suite, which shows intrusive relationship with the schist belt. The following map indicates the location of Jonnagiri Project in India.

The project is expected to start the full scale commercial production from the second quarter of 2025. Pilot scale production is already commenced.