Photo: VCG

China has completed the detection of the country's largest gold mine, Xiling gold mine in Laizhou, East China's Shandong Province, and confirmed 592.19 tons of gold reserves with potential economic value of over 200 billion yuan ($27.74 billion), the China Gold Association (CGA) said on Thursday.

Li Hang, a representative from Shandong Gold Group Co (SD-Gold), the owner of the Xiling gold mine, said during a press conference that Xiling gold mine is located in the country's third-largest gold mine area with 147 million tons of detected gold ore and content grade of 4.02 grams of gold per ton.

"The gold reserves can sustain over 40 years of operation at the mine, with 3.3 million tons of annual ore processing volume," said Li, noting that 590 tons of silver was also detected.

SD-Gold invested 880 million yuan in the 23-year-detection of Xiling gold mine, and announced preliminary findings about the mine in March 2017.

The Natural Resource Department of Shandong Province in May this year discovered an additional 200 tons of gold resources in the Xiling gold mine, bringing the total gold reserves to 580 tons before the complete detection was done.

CGA data showed that China produced 178.60 tons of gold in the first half of 2023, up 2.24 percent year-on-year. The overall gold consumption volume reached 554.88 tons, increasing by 16.37 percent year-on-year.

Analysts said the demand for gold keeps rising as a way to hedge against risk, given the global economic uncertainties.

The People's Bank of China, China's central bank, increased its gold reserves by 102.95 tons in June, the eighth monthly increase since November 2022, lifting the total reserve volume to 2,113.48 tons.

Global Times