World’s Largest Gold Deposit Worth Over US$80 Billion Found in China
World’s Largest Gold Deposit Worth Over US$80 Billion Found in China
The World’s Largest Gold Deposit Worth Over US$80 Billion was Found in China.
Newera News learnt that Chinese state media had revealed that a deposit of high-quality gold ore containing around 1,000 metric tons (1,100 US tons) of the precious metal was discovered in central China.
The Gold is valued at approximately 600 billion yuan or US$83 billion, the discovery could be considered the largest and most lucrative reservoir of gold ever uncovered, surpassing the 900 metric tons estimated to lie within the mother of all gold reserves, the South Deep mine in South Africa.
The Geological Bureau of Hunan Province announced the detection of 40 gold veins within a depth of 2 kilometres (1.2 miles) in the Northeast Hunan county of Pingjiang.
These alone were thought to contain 300 metric tons of gold, with 3D modelling suggesting additional reserves may be found to a depth of 3 kilometres.
World’s Largest Gold Deposit Worth Over US$80 Billion Found in China
“Many drilled rock cores showed visible gold,” says the bureau prospector Chen Rulin.
Core samples suggest every metric ton of ore could contain as much as 138 grams (nearly 5 ounces) of gold, an extraordinary level of quality considering ore excavated from underground mines is regarded as high grade if it contains more than 8 grams of rock cores.
This photo taken on 20 November 2024 shows drilled rock samples from the Wangu gold field in Pingjiang County, central China’s Hunan Province. (Xinhua/Dai Bin)
It was reported that China dominates the world’s gold market with more than 2,000 tons in reserve earlier in 2024. The Chinese mining industry contributes around 10 per cent of the global output.
The announcements of the findings have contributed to a further increase in the already skyrocketing gold price as demands for the resource continue to rise amid global uncertainty.
More valuable ore is yet to be discovered around the world, but experts are divided on whether we’ve reached peak gold.
Forged in the furnaces of embracing stars long before Earth was formed, our planet’s glittering veins are a finite resource that takes aeons to precipitate into an easily mineable form.
World’s Largest Gold Deposit Found, Worth Over US$80 Billion
The discovery is estimated to contain around 1,000 metric tons of gold.
Based on these latest findings, we might be far from exhausting economically viable reserves.
Core samples taken around the periphery of the Hunan site hint that the deposit may extend even further than initial predictions, making the reservoir beneath its soil a true dragon’s haul.
It’s been a notable year for gold discoveries across the globe.
In March, a treasure hunter in England found what was estimated to be perhaps the biggest gold nugget ever found in the country.
Just two months ago, scientists in Australia discovered a new mechanism that may lead to the formation of gold, suggesting that earthquakes’ seismic activity plays a role in the creation of large nuggets.
World’s Largest Gold Deposit Worth Over US$80 Billion Found in China
But that’s not all. In addition to learning more about how gold naturally forms, scientists are also investigating new things that can be done to manipulate the precious resource.
A study published in April reported the creation of a new kind of two-dimensional gold called ‘goldene’, measuring only a single layer of atoms in height, which has some interesting properties not seen in the three-dimensional form of gold.
While gold is an ancient metal prized according to its high value throughout human history, we’re still learning a lot about it.
