Chinese Drilling Team Discovers $85.9 Billion Gold Mine

China has recently announced a remarkable gold discovery, featuring a “superlarge” gold deposit estimated to contain over 1,000 tons of gold. This find, located in the Wangu gold field of Pingjiang County in Hunan province, boasts reserves valued at approximately $85.9 billion.

Details of the Discovery

According to the Geological Bureau of Hunan Province, geologists have identified 40 distinct gold veins within this deposit. These veins alone hold an estimated 300 tons of gold at depths around 6,562 feet (approximately 2,000 meters). An expert from the bureau, Chen Rulin, highlighted that assays from drilled rock cores indicated visible gold, with one ton of ore containing up to 138 grams of the precious metal.

Global Comparisons

This substantial gold find ranks among the largest deposits ever recorded, potentially rivaling South Africa’s well-known South Deep mine. Furthermore, last month, China unveiled another significant discovery believed to be Asia’s largest undersea gold deposit. This was found off the Laizhou coast, located on the Jiaodong Peninsula in Shandong province.

The exact size of the undersea gold deposit remains undisclosed, but preliminary estimates suggest it has raised Laizhou’s total gold reserves to over 3,900 tons—approximately 26% of China’s known gold resources.

Recent Discoveries

In November 2022, China also reported the discovery of over 1,400 tons of gold in Liaoning province. This find, confirmed to be 1,444.49 tons, is recognized as the largest single gold discovery in China since 1949. Additionally, a separate gold deposit near the Kunlun Mountains in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region has an estimated reserve exceeding 1,000 tons.

China’s Gold Landscape

• Shandong province hosts about a quarter of China’s total gold reserves.
• Approximately 3,500 tons can be found on the Jiaodong Peninsula, making it the world’s third-largest gold mining belt.

Across history, around 216,265 tons of gold have been mined globally, with two-thirds of that total extracted since 1950. According to a January report from the U.S. Geological Survey, the United States is expected to produce around 160 tons of gold in 2024, valued at about $12 billion, reflecting a 9% increase from the previous year.

The recent findings highlight China’s significant position within the global gold market and underline the country’s ongoing commitment to exploring and expanding its natural resource wealth.