Established in 1880 by John Taylor and Sons, the gold mining operations in Kolar Gold Fields, were a highly profitable enterprise for their owners. The large scale of the operations meant setting up of massive mining infrastructure and residential townships which in turn required the labour of thousands of workers. The company recruited labour from the neighbouring Tamil and Telugu speaking regions of Madras Presidency.
Over the period of 120 years of its existence, mining in KGF has yielded more than 800 tonnes of gold. The mining belt has also been a hotbed of workers' struggle. As the tussle between the government and the BGML employees co-operative continues even today, KGF has come to occupy a unique cultural, economic, social and political place in Karnataka. The image gallery captures the Kolar Gold Fields in Karnataka.
