China: A monumental discovery of gold was unearthed from central China, with a deposit believed to be almost 1,000 tons of the high-grade ore, bringing an estimated $83 billion in value in the bank. According to a report coming Chinese state media, this groundbreaking discovery could also surpass the mine in South Africa, a south Deep mine, considered to date as the greatest gold discovery every made which holds some 900 tons.
According to the Geological Bureau of Hunan Province, the deposit is situated in Pingjiang County where geologists have found 40 gold veins up to 2 kilometers in depth. Preliminary estimates show that the said veins may contain 300 metric tons of gold. But advanced 3D modeling shows that more reserves could exist at greater depths, going as far as 3 kilometers.
In addition, many of the drill cores contained visible gold; also, the core samples revealed that every metric tonne of ore could produce as much as 138 grammes of gold. Experts do leave stunned by this kind of discovery, as such kind of ore from underground mines is considered high-grade in case it contains over 8 grammes.
Chen Rulin is one of the prospectors who work at the bureau, and he said that “The discovery is most probably going to affect greatly on China’s gold industry as it already has a high role in global gold production. The country constitutes about 10% of the global production and, at a much earlier stage of the year 2024, had in excess of 2,000 tons of gold reserves.
The news has already sent up the prices of gold, given that the precious metal remains in high demand globally in times of economic uncertainty. Though the experts are still divided as to whether large-scale significant deposits will be found across the globe, this find seems to indicate that economically recoverable reserves might still abound.