China strikes £66bn gold deposit, deep challenge awaits
China has discovered gold deposits in Hunan province, estimated to be worth nearly £66 billion, the province's geological office announced. According to preliminary estimates, the newly discovered reserves contain over a thousand tonnes of the precious metal. The treasure is located at a depth of 2,000 metres.
Chinese geologists discovered over 40 veins of gold ore in the Pingjiang area of Hunan province. A total of 331 tonnes of gold were found, with the highest content being 138 grams per tonne. The value of the discovered ore is estimated at £66 billion.
Experts predict that at a depth of over 3,000 metres, there is more than 1,000 tonnes, but extracting gold hidden so deep will be quite expensive.
Contrary to popular belief, it is not South Africa or Russia that are the largest gold producers, but China. In 2023, their share in global production was about 10 per cent. In the third quarter of this year, production amounted to 295 tonnes.
Thanks to intensive investments in the natural resources sector, China secured 124 new deposits of strategic minerals over the last year, including valuable industrial resources such as graphite, lithium, copper, and gold. These discoveries are key to the country's self-sufficiency and energy security - reports focus.pl.
The largest lithium deposit in Asia discovered in China
At the beginning of the year, China discovered huge deposits of "white gold" in the southwestern part of Sichuan province. It is estimated to be the largest discovered so far in Asia. China already significantly outpaces Western countries in investments in the extraction of rare earth elements. Currently, these are used globally in innovative energy and transport (including the production of batteries for electric cars), as well as in semiconductor production and the defence industry.
China currently holds 60 per cent of the rare metals market. In 2022, they extracted 231,000 tonnes, while the second largest, the United States, extracted 47,000 tonnes. Lithium is one of the key raw materials in the process of energy transformation of global economies.
