A senior official of Geological Survey of India (GSI) arrived in the steel city on Thursday from Ranchi to explore gold reserves at a village in Sundarnagar on the outskirts of Jamshedpur.

Senior scientist of GSI (Jharkhand) A.K. Das, who will soon be joined by project director R.R. Rahul, said a camp would be set up at the site and drilling work would start within a month and was likely to continue till March next year.

He said 120-125 metre deep holes would be drilled at eight to nine points over an area of 20 acres at the identified site.

"The exact quantity of gold can be assessed only when we reach that depth. After drilling, we will collect the samples and determine the kind of reserve present there," he said.

GSI (Jharkhand) director A.K. Sharma said they had conducted a preliminary survey at Bhitardari at Fategora village in Sundarnagar in 2016 and found enough evidence of the presence of gold there.

"On the basis of the initial findings, we had planned to carry out a final survey at the site in April this year but the plan got delayed because of our other engagements. Now a survey team will start the exploration work there shortly," Sharma said.

The mineral-rich East Singhbhum district already has a gold mine at Kundrukocha in Sundarnagar itself.