A tiny village kept off from even the basic amenities like electricity, road, transport, telephone, school, hospital etc. was the then MALLESHWARA and today’s Kudremukh town in Mudigere Taluk, Chikmagalur District of Karnataka.

Kudremukh in Kannada means the “Face of the Horse”. It seems one of the peaks in the Sahyadri range is of the shape of the ‘Chess Knight’. That is why it got the name Kudremukh. Rightly therefore, Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Ltd has used the face of a horse as their logo.

Kudremukh is Karnataka’s second highest peak and for over two thousand years sailors on the Arabian Sea were said to have used this distinctive peak as a well-known landmark.

The Sahyadri Mountain ranges of Karnataka uncharted and untamed. The Pandavas of the Mahabharata, during their years in exile, sought refuge in the evergreen forests   of the Sahyadri Mountains, in the Western Ghats of India.

                                     …Reference Mysore Gazetteer

- Vol II, Part I

The story of Iron is, perhaps also the story of human civilization. It is one of the oldest metals known to man and is the metal in largest demand in the world. Iron is the most common element in the earth.

Legend and wild beauty, Kudremukh is known to have one of the largest deposits of Iron ore in the world.

The Geologist, Sampath Iyengar’s discovery of Iron ore at Kudremukh - part of Ayomukh range - has been traced by Scholars to Sugreeva’s legendary reference to the mountain peak. It is understood, in 1913 Sampath Iyengar went in search of iron ore deposit from a place called Balehonnur. When he was trotting along river Bhadra, his horse’s shoe attracted fine iron ore particles. Then he followed the track of iron ore along the river bed and reached the present Aroli ranges (Kudremukh) where iron ore deposits were discovered.

Kudremukh is part of ancient Indian Heritage, from the great epics - The Mahabharata and The Ramayana. Legend has it that when king Sugreeva in the Ramayana commanded his simian brigade to search for Seetha, he referred to Kudremukh, a part of the Ayomukh range, as the place “rich in minerals”