Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru
Bengaluru, Dec 9: Karnataka has emerged as a potential hotspot for two of the world’s most valuable resources — gold and lithium — after significant deposits of both minerals were discovered in the forest belts of Koppal and Raichur. But despite the scale of the findings, extraction has ground to a halt due to the sites falling within protected forest zones, creating a growing standoff between the mines and geology department and the forest department.
The mines and geology department, which is conducting exploration at 65 locations statewide along with the Geological Survey of India (GSI) and private agencies, said the gold concentration found in Koppal’s Amrapur block is among the richest ever recorded in India.
“In a rare occurrence, we found 12–14 grams of gold per tonne in the Amrapur block,” The New Indian Express quoted department officials as saying. “Typically, gold exploration yields about 2–3 grams per tonne. Even Hutti Gold Mines averages only around 2–2.5 grams. But Amrapur lies inside a protected forest patch, and we cannot move forward without clearance,” the official said.
The department is also excited about what could become India’s most promising lithium resource. Officers said lithium deposits identified at Amareshwara in Raichur represent only the second confirmed lithium occurrence in the country after the Jammu and Kashmir Valley discovery.
“Here too, the forest clearance has not come through. If allowed, Karnataka could become the first state in India to begin lithium extraction,” an official said.
The findings were discussed at a detailed board meeting in November 2025 involving state and central agencies. Exploration of rare metals takes place in four stages: reconnaissance, pitting and fencing in the first two phases, followed by drilling up to 500 meters and preliminary mining in the final stages. In Koppal and Raichur, only the first two phases have been completed.
While large gold deposits were first identified in 2020 and lithium in 2023, no drilling has been conducted so far. Officials say the delay is not just bureaucratic. “Our ground staff are under constant threat — from those wanting to illegally exploit the mineral wealth and from groups trying to obstruct the study. Their safety is a major concern,” a department source said.
Forest department officials, meanwhile, said they are facing continuous pressure to grant clearances. Proposals submitted to the department include lithium extraction in the Lingsugur reserve forest and gold mining in the Amrapur reserve forest in Kushtagi. But officials remain firm.
“We cannot open virgin protected forests for mining,” a senior forest officer said. “Forests are ecological wealth — once damaged, they cannot be restored. The pressure is increasing every year, but we cannot compromise on core environmental safeguards.”
The mines and geology department reiterated that exploration is continuing in non-forest regions across the state, covering 6,73,660 hectares and targeting a wide range of minerals including platinum group metals, bauxite, copper, cobalt, nickel, chromite, vanadium, uranium, diamonds and rare earth elements such as kyanite and xenotime.
Even so, the richest finds — the high-yield gold seam and the rare lithium deposit — remain locked beneath Karnataka’s protected forests, leaving the state at the centre of an intensifying debate over conservation versus resource extraction.