SCMP reported that scientists said they had discovered two gold mines with the potential to break the record of 1,000 tons in central and northeastern China, not to mention the possibility of more gold mines using advanced exploration technology.

If proven, these deposits could be among the largest in the world, even surpassing the largest known gold mine in South Africa.

China is the world's largest producer of gold ore, producing 377 tonnes last year, according to the China Gold Association.

Despite holding the top spot in gold production, China still lags behind countries like South Africa, Australia and Russia in terms of proven gold reserves.

Despite skepticism from some experts about reserve estimates, the discovery of two large gold deposits could help China maintain its gold production pace and prevent output from falling.

Chinese Gold Coin.jpg
Two new large gold mines have been discovered. Photo: SCMP

Last November, the Hunan provincial geological bureau announced that it had found a super-large gold mine with estimated reserves of more than 1,000 tons of gold, worth more than 600 billion yuan ($83 billion).

A member of the geological bureau said that thanks to new exploration technologies such as 3D geological monitoring, this gold mine was discovered.

Another mine discovered in Liaoning Province, northeast China, around the same time was also made possible by new gold-finding strategies. China Mining Magazine reported that the giant Dadonggou gold mine in Liaoning, containing about 1,000 tons, was discovered shortly after the news of the Hunan gold mine.

This gold mine stretches more than 3,000m from east to west and more than 2,500m from north to south, located in the Craton (a geological term for an old and stable part of the continental crust that has gone through a long period of time without deformation) of northern China.

Gold exploration was conducted in the area in the 1980s. Although some metal was found, experts assessed the small scale and determined it had no industrial value.

According to the article, in 2009, exploration activities by a local geological team showed that more gold could be found than expected, and geologists adjusted their exploration strategy.

"In the new exploration in 2024, a combined approach of general and detailed exploration was applied. Currently, all construction boreholes have found ore," the team wrote.

The deposit is low-grade gold, meaning the amount of gold per ton of mined material is low. However, the team says preliminary tests show a gold recovery rate of 65-91%. It is an easy-to-exploit gold deposit with great economic potential.

More than 430 tons of proven gold reserves have been found in Liaoning in recent years, the research team said.

According to Chinese media, the estimate of gold reserves at the Hunan mine was made after geologists found more than 40 gold veins with 300 tons of gold under the Wangu gold mine.

In The Northern Miner magazine, an expert from the World Gold Council commented that the estimate for the Hunan mine sounds ambitious.

South Deep in northeastern South Africa remains the largest gold mine in terms of proven reserves, with nearly 1,000 tonnes. Further exploration is needed to determine whether China’s gold reserves surpass this one.

Gold is not only a means of protecting the financial system, but also plays a role in the development of electronics, even aerospace components, because of the properties of gold.

Gold prices continue to skyrocket, how are gold mining businesses doing? Vietnam has just discovered about 30 tons of gold reserves in the Northwest region, worth more than 3 billion USD. Among the gold mining businesses in our country, there is a unit that produces about 1 ton of gold per year.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/trung-quoc-tim-thay-2-000-tan-vang-duoi-long-dat-2386059.html