Guwahati, Nov. 13: The ONGC today said there was a “very high probability” of uranium reserves in its Borholla oilfield along the Assam-Nagaland border in Jorhat district.

This is the first time that there have been indications of uranium reserves in Assam, following detection of radioactive properties in the contents of the wells.

The radioactive properties were significantly high, leading experts to believe there was a high probablity of uranium presence.

The chief of Assam and Assam-Arakan basin of the ONGC, Satyajeet Choudhury, said a joint survey by the oil major and Uranium Corporation of India Ltd had found indication of uranium reserves at Borholla.

ONGC and UCIL had recently signed a pact for joint survey to detect possible uranium reserves in Assam.

UCIL is the only entity allowed to undertake uranium mining in the country and can allot mining leases to others, such as ONGC.

The Group Gathering Station of the ONGC at Borholla is one of the oldest installations of the company in the northeastern region.

The station is connected to about 20 oil wells in the Borholla area under Titabor subdivision in Jorhat district.

Borholla, in fact, is the only oil filed of the ONGC in Jorhat district.

Apart from Jorhat, the company has operations in Sivasagar, Dibrugarh and Golaghat districts in Upper Assam.

Choudhury said oil and gas are extracted from the fractured basement of the old rock structure at the Borholla oil field where there could be high concentration of uranium.

“It would require more study to ascertain whether there are uranium reserves at the Borholla but indications are positive,” the ONGC official said.

A source said ONGC and the UCIL are currently examining logs of over 900 oil and gas wells drilled by ONGC to look for extractable uranium reserves. He said the ONGC’s energy centre in Delhi could be in a position to quantify the probability. The energy centre is now studying the next possible course of action, he added.

If uranium reserves are struck at Borholla, it would be the first site in Assam where mining of the yellow cake can be carried out.

Meghalaya is the only state in the region where uranium has been found so far.

Uranium mining in Meghalaya, however, has hit a wall of protest by several organisations, including the influential North East Students’ Organisation, which felt it could have environmental hazards.

ONGC chairman-cum-managing director, R.S. Sharma, recently said the company’s vision was to become an integrated energy company and not just restrict “ourselves to oil and gas”. It has invested Rs 500 crore for research and development for renewable and alternate energy.

“Uranium mining is part of it,” he had said.

If uranium is found at Borholla, it would add to the list of numerous minerals found in the oil-rich state.

Coal, limestone, granite, silimanite, iron ore, quartzite, feldspar are also found in the state.

Of these, however, it is coal which has been commercially exploited. The coal reserve is estimated at 371 million tonnes.

The ministry of mines and DoNER, in collaboration of the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries held an investors’ meet and conference on Development of Mineral Resources and Mineral Based Industry in North Eastern Region in Guwahati.