India's Geological Survey clarifies it has discovered just 160 kilograms of gold in a field in Sonbhadra district
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on March 2, 2020 at 09:10
- 3 min read
- By AFP India
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The claim was published in a Facebook here on February 27, 2020. It has since been shared more than 500 times.
Below is a screenshot of the misleading post:
The Hindi-language text superimposed on the graphic translates to English as: “The people who called Lord Rama as imaginary must see this. Here they held a meeting on construction of Rama temple and there discovered 3500 tonnes of gold in Sonbhadra. Hail Shri Rama.”
The post’s Hindi-language caption states: “This is also a coincidence that the Supreme Court of India delivered a verdict on the disputed birthplace of Lord Rama on November 8 and a stack of gold of about 3500 tonnes was discovered only a day after the first meeting of members of the Ram Temple Construction Trust exactly after four months of the court's decision. This Is a divine deed of lord Rama. Hail Sri Rama.”
Sonbhadra is the district in Uttar Pradesh where the post claims the gold was discovered.
The post also makes reference to Lord Rama by using his photo at the top in the misleading post. Ram is one of the most prominent Hindu deities and a recent Supreme Court verdict that ruled in favour of Hindu control over a disputed holy site in Ayodhya, another town in Uttar Pradesh.
A similar claim was also shared on Facebook here, here, here, here and here.
--Smaller discovery--
The claim is false; the Geological Survey of India (GSI) – the government’s national mining body – said the amount of gold discovered at the site was considerably less than 3,500 tonnes.
“GSI has not estimated such kind of vast resource of gold deposits in Sonbhadra district,” Ashish Kumar Nath, the GSI Director and Public Relation Officer, said in a statement that was published on Twitter here on February 22, 2020.
The agency added that out of the estimated 52,806.25 tonnes of ore in area, roughly 160 kilograms of gold could be extracted.
As per GSI study,the probable conservative figure of gold which can be unearthed is estimated to be around 160 kgs and not 3350 tonnes as mentioned in media reports.
— Geological Survey of India (@GeologyIndia) February 22, 2020
For more details, read the GSI press release below!#GSI #UncoveringIndia #Sonbhadra #UttarPradesh #Gold pic.twitter.com/KvY5ffZsGh
--Unrelated photos--
The image on the left-hand side of the misleading posts was published here in an article published by Indian news site The Quint in February 2020.
The article does not relate to the gold discovery Sonbhadra district. It reports on Indian prime minister Narendra Modi's meeting with trustees of Ram Temple board after the Supreme Court verdict over a disputed holy site in Ayodhya.
Below is a screenshot of the image in the article:
The image on the right-hand side of the misleading posts is a stock photo of gold that has been published in various unrelated articles here, here and here since at least 2017.
Below is a screenshot of the photo in one of the articles:
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