'Supergiant' Gold Deposit May Be Worth Over US$80 Billion [China]

Science Alert ^ | March 18, 2025 | Mike McRae

[Red Badger]

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 in late 2024, according to Chinese state media.

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.

Some commentators are not yet convinced of the deposit's scale and feasability, 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 kilometers (1.2 miles) in the northeast Hunan county of Pingjiang.

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 kilometers.

"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.

China already dominates the world's gold market with reserves considered to be in excess of 2,000 tons earlier in 2024, its mining industry contributing around 10 percent of the global output.

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.

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.

Based on these 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.

The discovery in late 2024 capped off what was a notable year for gold discoveries.

In March 2024, a treasure hunter in England found what was estimated to perhaps be the biggest gold nugget ever found in the country.

And just months later, research by scientists in Australia discovered a new mechanism that may lead to the formation of gold, suggesting the seismic activity of earthquakes actually plays a role in the creation of large nuggets.

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 2024 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.

An earlier version of this article was published in November 2024.

[DannyTN]

Let’s go back to the gold standard and let China determine our monetary policy.

/Heavy sarcasm off

[sauropod]

Bkmk

[Gen.Blather]

We all know the regular reports of economic miracles coming out of China are a hundred percent reliable.

[TBall]

Cough, cough, bullshit...

[PGR88]

Let’s go back to the gold standard and let China determine our monetary policy.

What does this mean? How does China determine US monetary policy under a gold standard?

[OldHarbor]

Gold Mountain !

[E. Pluribus Unum]

On a related note, there are a lot of indications that President Trump is preparing to put the US dollar back onto a gold standard, including the fact that large quantities of physical gold are being returned to the United States.

[crz]

Reported lately that coal ash contains 80% rare earth minerals.

Coal ash..which is waste.

COAL ASH!

[Red Badger]

Just because it’s there doesn’t mean it’s easy to get out of there.

It is theorized that the deeper you go in the Earth, the more heavier metals you will find, as they sank into the Earth when it was in hot molten liquid form, 4 billion years ago.

They would be found in layers of the heaviest at the center, lead and uranium, etc, and on up through the periodic chart to gold and silver............

[DannyTN]

China is the world’s largest gold producer.
They can restrict production causing gold to inflate, or they can increase production causing gold to deflate.

Just like during the California gold rush, we had significant deflation despite being on the gold standard, because so much gold was being produced.

[PGR88]

I think we can call BS on this

This claim means this mine would contain over 35 million oz of gold - which the article did mention would be larger than even South Africa’s “South Deep,” the largest in the world, which has been operating (and under constant exploration and reserve updating) for over 60 years already.

As Mark Twain said: “the definition of a gold mine is a hole in the ground with a liar standing at the top of the hole. “

[rfp1234]

There are probably even larger deposits in our future 51st State to the north.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

A bit tangential, but we visited the old Keane-Wonder Mine in Death Valley a couple days ago. I'm always very impressed what prospectors with no formal training could find in that environment on foot with a mule, some shovels and picks, a rock hammer and a pan. The Keane-Wonder Mine is the best preserved mine in Death Valley. It became a major mine in 1906 with new investment.

The mine owners built a one mile long aerial tramway in 1907 to convey 70 tons of raw ore to the processing plant. It is amazing to see such an old aerial tramway. The tram stretches from the upper mining camp in the Funeral Mountains down to the lower mill area, descending about 1,500 feet. The towers and cables are still visible today. I wasn't expecting to see an aerial tramway using steel wire rope there. Iron wire rope was invented by a German mining engineer in 1831 and was refined when mass production of steel took off with the Bessemer process (patented 1856). English engineer Robert Stirling Newall had patented a wire rope-making machine in 1840, and by the 1850s, companies like his were churning out steel versions. By the time the Keane-Wonder mine was built, steel wire rope aerial tramways were mature technology.

You can see a tram tower at the top of this photo taken by the receiving end of the tram:

Here is a pic of a couple of the tram towers that still exist. There were 13 towers in all.

The Chinese mine will be deep underground, of course. The Keane-Wonder mine was also an underground mine with deep vertical shafts, long horizontal drifts, and huge stopes (excavated ore zones), typical of hard-rock gold mining chasing quartz veins.

[PGR88]

Here are stats showing top 10 gold mining countries.
China is the largest, but is only about 12% of total.

I still do not understanding how they can “overproduce?” Are they sitting on secret reserves that they can simply pull out of the ground on political whim? If gold or “free money” is just sitting there, why haven’t they done it already?

Also, couldn’t Russia, Australia or Canada also overproduce?

Or is it better to have politically-appointed central planners like Janet Yellen or Mark Carney in charge of money supply?

China: 370 metric tons
370 × 32,150.75 = 11,895,777 troy ounces

Australia: 310 metric tons
310 × 32,150.75 = 9,966,732 troy ounces

Russia: 310 metric tons
310 × 32,150.75 = 9,966,732 troy ounces

Canada: 200 metric tons
200 × 32,150.75 = 6,430,150 troy ounces

United States: 170 metric tons
170 × 32,150.75 = 5,465,627 troy ounces

Kazakhstan: 130 metric tons
130 × 32,150.75 = 4,179,597 troy ounces

Mexico: 120 metric tons
120 × 32,150.75 = 3,858,090 troy ounces

Indonesia: 110 metric tons
110 × 32,150.75 = 3,536,582 troy ounces

South Africa: 100 metric tons
100 × 32,150.75 = 3,215,075 troy ounces

Uzbekistan: 100 metric tons
100 × 32,150.75 = 3,215,075 troy ounces

China is the largest, but is only about 12% of total.

[OldHarbor]

Gold Mountain is what the Cantonese Chinese called San Francisco, then California in general and eventually, included British Columbia as New Gold Mountain.

The California gold rush brought quite a few Chinese here. The first group were miners recruited by British interests in Shanghai . Initially there weren’t many , about 60 , but by 1852, some 20,000 Chinese arrived to work the gold fields.

[Ge0ffrey]

One ring 💍 to rule them all...🧒🧭⛰️🧌🏔️🧗🧝🏻‍♂️🏰📜🏞️🌋

[DCBryan1]

We have a couple of “Super Giant” gold sites in the US. Unfortunate that both are in CA. Bodie, CA has a HUGE deposit but environmental freaks wont let them mine it. Enough gold there to build the super train and get CA out of debt.

[6ppc]

Can’t wait till we start mining the asteroids. Elon...are you listening?

[Iceclimber58]

So when we annex Canada, we will have a much as china.