You may have heard the KGF movie that is taking place in the Indian Kolar Gold Mine, but you have certainly never heard of Michael Fitzgerald Lavelle, who thought of exploring this field after he accidentally read an old report on this field.

Lavelle began to be interested in gold mining during the period in which he participated in the war in New Zealand, and he was greatly excited after he read an old report by John Warren talking about potential gold reserves in the Kolar field, as Warren had reached the Kolar field in 1799 after he was killed Tipu Sultan at the hands of the British at the Battle of Srinagapatam.

The British decided to hand over the lands that were under the control of Tipu to the princely state of Mysore, and a survey had to be made of those lands, so Warren, who was serving at the time in the Queen's Regiment No. 33, was called and sent to Kolar to complete this task, and Warren had heard myths about people digging gold With their bare hands during the Chola Dynasty period.

These rumors aroused his curiosity and announced a reward for anyone who could reach yellow gold, and soon the villagers arrived in front of him with carts filled with mud and washed it in front of Warren to isolate the gold powder, and he concluded that for every 120 pounds of clay he could extract a grain of gold using primitive methods. Used by the villagers, and this raises the possibility of large gold reserves in that area.

Between 1804 AD and 1860 AD there were a number of studies to explore areas in that region, but they were wasted, and because most of the mining work led to accidents, underground mining was prohibited by law in 1859 AD, but Lavelle, after 67 of writing Warren's report, felt enthusiastic about this report, And he decided to make a trip to Kolar in 1871 AD, and he went on a journey of 60 miles, and identified several mining sites, but unlike others he was able to get deposits of gold.

After two years of searching, and in 1873 A.D., Laville wrote to the government to obtain a license to mine gold, and the government believed that the idea of ​​gold is unlikely, so it gave him permission to search for coal only, but he insisted on searching for gold, so Laville wrote another letter to the head of the commission Mysore said in it: (If I succeed in what I am looking for, this field will be of great benefit to the government, and in case it fails, the government will not cost anything. I do not ask for anything but a permit for mining).

Indeed, on February 2, 1875, Lavelle obtained a mine lease contract for the mine, and a new era began for gold mining in India.Lavel was not rich and this limited his ability to mine, but his enthusiasm and daring to create gold mines and his desire to take risks made him talk to people, but his savings It began to dry up and by 1877AD Lavelle was unable to provide the money needed to complete his dream, and he became desperate to raise more money.

But due to his popularity, he received support from General Beresford and three others, and together they formed a union that they called (the Kolar Company with Limited Concessions). This company took over the mining process, and mining engineers were invited from all over the world to dig wells in Kolar, and after pressure from investors in Kolar Limited franchises, the company worked with another company that had brought modern mining engineering to India, which is the property of John Taylor and his sons, and the new company began to bring engineers from Norwich, England, and the golden age of KGF gold field began for gold mining in India.

With the development of operations in KGF, the United Kingdom planned to make it the second largest field in Asia and established the first power plant in India in the Kolar region, and in 1900 AD a giant power station was established that transported lines along 148 km, which was considered the longest in the world, and the machines were transported from Britain, America and Germany to the field in carts drawn by elephants and horses. Candle and kerosene lamps were replaced in the streets with electric lamps, by the year 1902 AD, the Kolar region had an uninterrupted supply of electricity.

However, the underground working conditions were not good, as the underground temperatures reached 55 degrees Celsius and accidents became common there, and with the passage of time the gold reserves began to diminish and foreign workers began to leave the field, but it remained the property of the English until the independence of India, so the ownership was transferred. The field was transferred to the state government in 1956 AD, and in 2001 AD the Kolar gold field was closed.