Chinese state media reported that a deposit of high-grade gold ore containing about 1,000 metric tons (1,100 US tons) of the yellow metal has been found in central China, worth 600 billion yuan or US$83 billion.
The establishment of the reservoir was announced by the Hunan Provincial Geological Bureau, which discovered 40 gold veins at a depth of 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) in the country’s northeastern Pingjiang province, Xinhua news agency reported. Science Alert.
This discovery could be considered the largest and most lucrative gold reservoir ever discovered, surpassing the gold reserves of over 900 metric tons found within the South Deep mine in South Africa.
These 40 veins are believed to contain 300 metric tons of gold, with further 3D models suggesting additional reserves could be found at a depth of 3 kilometers. The gold is expected to be eight times heavier than the Statue of Liberty, according to Live Science.
“Many of the drilled rock cores showed clear gold,” said the bureau’s prospector, Chen Ruolin.
Officials revealed that each metric ton can contain about 138 grams or approximately 5 ounces of gold, a relatively high number considering that ore extracted from underground mines is considered high quality if it contains more than 8 grams.
Core samples taken from the site indicate that the deposit could extend further than previously thought, making it a huge amount of gold.
China is already the world’s largest bullion-producing country, accounting for about 10% of global gold production in 2023, according to Reuters.
However, it still uses more gold than it can produce, consuming three times more gold than it can produce or extract. In turn, it relies heavily on importing gold from other countries such as Australia and South Africa.
Hunan China’s new gold stock could help alleviate some of the shortage, but it won’t get the country out of the problem entirely.
The entire deposit can meet the country’s needs for only 1.4 years when observing current consumption rates.