Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government is preparing to auction tonnes of gold reserve found in Sonbhadra district of the state. As per reports of Geological Survey of India and Uttar Pradesh Directorate of Geology and Mining, the estimated gold is said to be around 3,000 tonnes at Son Pahadi and Hardi village area.

The UP government has started the process for allocation of blocks where gold is said to be found. A large reserve of gold has been confirmed in Hardi village in Kone region and Son Pahadi in Mahuli region. The government has also constituted a seven-member team for auctioning of these blocks through e-tendering process. The team will be geo-tagging the entire region and will submit its report to the Directorate of Geology and Mining, Lucknow by February 22.

As per the official letter of the Uttar Pradesh Directorate of Geology and Mining, 2,943.26 tonnes of gold reserve is said to be at Son Pahadi while 646.15 kilograms of gold is said to be at Hardi block. As per the World Gold Council, India currently has 626 tonnes of gold reserves. The new reserves are almost five times that amount and estimated at Rs 12 lakh crore.

The work for finding gold reserves in Sonbhadra started in the year 1992-93 after the Central Geological Survey of India took over. It was reportedly the British who first initiated the process to find gold reserve in Sobhadra region.

Speaking to the media, Dr Prithivi Mishra, who has worked for the Geological Survey of India in this regard and retired in 2011 said the gold reserve in the region is divided in two parts. Mishra had also revealed the information at the time of his retirement and claimed that there was a rock made of gold which is almost one kilometre long, 18 metres high and 15 metres broad.