'Supergiant' Gold reserves discovered

  China hits jackpot with discovery of  'Supergiant' Gold Deposit in Hunan  

The US$80 billion hoard is the latest fruit of China’s drive to find new domestic precious minerals reserves. China has discovered a “massive” new goldfield containing reserves worth tens of billions of dollars in the central province of Hunan, as it steps up efforts to boost domestic reserves of strategic minerals. A "supergiant" deposit of high-quality gold ore containing an estimated 1,000 metric tons (1,100 US tons) of the precious metal was discovered in central China. Geologists identified more than 40 new gold veins located less than 2,000 metres (6,560 feet) underground at the Wangu gold mine in Pingjiang county, bringing the total gold resources in the mine’s core area to 300.2 tonnes, the Hunan Provincial Geological Institute said. Valued at up to approximately 600 billion yuan or US$83 billion, the discovery could be one of the largest and most lucrative reservoirs of gold ever uncovered, surpassing the 900 metric tons estimated to lie within the mother of all gold reserves, South Deep mine in South Africa.

The new find is classified as a “massive” reserve, with its more than 1,000 tonnes of gold deposits estimated to be worth about 600 billion yuan (US$82.8 billion) based on current market prices. Liu Yongjun, the institute’s vice-president, said the discovery was a major achievement for China’s mineral exploration strategy. The statement also claimed that the find was “significant in helping safeguard the country’s resource security”. Some commentators are not yet convinced of the deposit's scale and feasibility, but if the discovery becomes verified, it will represent a major find for China. The Geological Bureau of Hunan Province announced the detection of 40 gold veins within a depth of 2 km's (1.2 miles) in the northeast Hunan county of Pingjiang. The Wangu goldfield is one of China’s most important gold-mining hubs. Since 2020, provincial authorities have invested more than 100 million yuan on mineral exploration in the area. These alone were thought to contain 300 metric tons of gold, with 3D modeling suggesting additional reserves may be found to a depth of 3 km's.

"Many drilled rock cores showed visible gold," said bureau prospector Chen Rulin at the time of the discovery. 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 considered high grade if it contains more than 8 grams. Demand for gold in China has surged over the past couple of years, as consumers and retail investors boosted their gold holdings in reaction to domestic and global economic uncertainty. However, the rush to buy up gold has recently started to wane, after China’s central bank suspended its gold purchases in May and the dollar strengthened against the yuan. China already dominates the world's gold market with reserves considered to be in excess of 2,000 tons earlier, its mining industry contributing around 10 % of the global output. The price of gold has fallen to a near-two-month low, and retail gold jewellery prices have also declined. Gold jewellery from popular Chinese chains such as Chow Tai Fook and Chow Sang Sang were selling for about 720 yuan (US$99) per gram, down from 820 yuan.

Announcements of the findings initially contributed to a further increase in the already skyrocketing gold price, with demands for the resource generally rising strongly in time of global economic uncertainty. China has stepped up investment in mineral resources exploration in recent years, with a 2021-25 development plan calling for greater efforts to bolster domestic mineral reserves and production. Just how many bonanzas of the valuable ore remain yet to be discovered around the world is unclear, with experts 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 take eons to precipitate into an easily mineable form.

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. The discovery in 2024 capped off what was a notable year for gold discoveries. The new discovery is estimated to contain around 1,000 metric tons of gold. Based on these findings, we might be far from exhausting economically viable reserves. In March 2024, a treasure hunter in England found what was estimated to perhaps be the biggest gold nugget ever found in the country. The large gold nugget, nicknamed "Hiro's Nugget," weighing 64.8 grams. And just months later, research by scientists in Australia discovered a new mechanism which may lead to the formation of gold, suggesting the seismic activity of earthquakes actually plays a role in the creation of large nuggets. Last year, the china’s exploration investment rose 8 %, year on year, reaching 110.5 billion yuan, which helped boost reserves of strategic resources including oil, natural gas, rare earths and gold.

In September, 4.96 million tonnes of rare earths were discovered in the Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture, a remote part of the southwestern province of Sichuan. 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 earlier 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 that has been prized all throughout human history, there's clearly a lot we're still finding out about it. A few months earlier, 43.2 tonnes of gold reserves were found in the northwestern province of Qinghai. And in May 2023, the Xiling gold mine in the eastern province of Shandong confirmed it had identified an additional 200 tonnes of gold reserves, raising its total reserves to 580 tonnes.