India entered a new phase in its mining sector on Wednesday with the inauguration of the Jonnagiri Gold Mine in Andhra Pradesh's Kurnool district, the country's first commercial-scale private-sector gold mining operation since independence.

The project was jointly inaugurated by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and the Managing Director and Chairman of Lloyds Metals and Energy, B. Prabhakaran.