Kolar Gold Field - Champion Reef Mine

The world's second deepest gold mine near Bangalore. Gold had long been known in the area, but it was only after the application of new engineering methods that size-able finds in the 1880s justified larger investments. By 1904 the Kolar fields produced nearly all the gold in India, valued at over 20 million pounds sterling annually. The mines were only shut down in 2003 due to limited remaining deposits and increasing operating costs.