A team from the government’s geology department has started an operation to search for iron ore in Dhorkhani, Tanahun.

The operation is being carried out in villages such as Chhapa, Dhorkhani, Bhagwati and Kyagdi in Shuklagandaki Municipality.

Thakur Prasad Kandel, the department’s senior geologist, said that his team has been carrying out the operation for a week and has found the source of the metal in a few places.

“We have located the mine in our preliminary survey,” Kandel said. “We are trying to ascertain the metal’s quality and possible quantity.”

Moreover, the team has also found a tunnel from which the iron had been extracted from the ore previously.

Another geologist Prakash Pokharel said the report from their research would be published by the end of this fiscal year. “We will ascertain the quality and probable quantity of the metal after evaluating the samples we’ve collected,” he said. “If we get a favourable result, the search will enter the next round.”

Ward chair of Suklagandaki Ward No. 10, Ram Chandra Bhandari, said he is excited by the new revelation. “There’s history that iron was extracted from Dhorpani in prehistoric times,” Bhandari said. “The ward office will extend all the help it can to discover iron.”

“If we can launch the iron mine, it would help contribute to the village’s development and generate employment,” Bhandari added.

Recorded history shows that iron was extracted from the area 300 years ago and was utilised to construct the iron-made suspension bridge over Seti River. The bridge is still in existence.