There China he might have discovered the largest gold deposit in the world, buried in the province of Hunanin the south of the country. The geologists leading the team that made the discovery estimated that the deposit could contain over 1,000 tons of goldfor an economic value greater than 83 billion US dollars.
The discovery of gold in China
The news was reported by Chinese media last year November 24, 2024. The deposit, known as Wangu Goldfieldis located in the north-east of Pingjiang County by an exploration team from Hunan Geological Survey. The experts would have detected over 40 veins of goldcorresponding to approximately 330 tons of raw materialwithin the first two km deep underground. However, 3D simulations and geophysical measurements would seem to indicate that the volumes of gold buried underground are much higher, reaching 1,100 tons within three km of depth.
Rock samples taken from underground via core drilling reinforce these numbers, showing a ratio of 138 grams of gold per tonne of material. “Gold is clearly visible in many rock cores”, he declared Chen Rulin, a mineral prospecting expert who was part of the team of geologists credited with the discovery. If the predictions are confirmed, the giant deposit would become the largest ever discovered in the world. To date, the largest gold deposit is the South African mine South Deep Gold Minelocated 45 km south-west of Johannesburgin which they were identified further 900 tons of gold to depth up to 2,998 m.
Currently, China is the largest producer of gold in the world, with approximately 10% of global production. In 2023, the country produced 378 tons of gold. However, China is highly dependent on this metal, consuming approx Three times the quantity it manages to extract annually. In the same year, gold consumption reached 910 tonsi.e. 532 tonnes more than domestic production. If confirmed, this new discovery would represent an important advantage for the country, reducing, at least in part, foreign imports and with potential effects of yet unknown magnitude on the global gold market.
Doubts about the discovery of gold deposits in China
The World Gold Council (WGC), the international trade association for the gold industry, responded with skepticism to the news, saying the potential of 1,000 tonnes seems ambitious and that the figure of 300 tonnes already identified appears more reasonable. The news, in fact, has been compared to the accident of 2020 Sonbhadra in India, when local officials claimed to have found 3,000 tons of gold. However, the Indian Geological Survey he later denied this statement, confirming reserves of only 160 kilograms. Only further investigations and drilling will be able to validate the real volumes of gold present in the deposit.
WGC specialists also highlighted how deposits deeper than 2,000 meters are rare and difficult to develop due to a number of added risks and technical challenges, including extreme heat, seismic risks and high costs. Nonetheless, mining at such depths is feasible. South Africa, for example, is home to some of the world’s deepest gold mines, including Harmony Gold’s Mponeng, which reaches over 4,000 meters deep.
