Photo: Weibo account of the Inner Mongolia Daily

A large gold mine with potential reserves of 38 tons has been found in Urad Middle Banner, Bayannur of North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, the Inner Mongolia Daily reported on Thursday, with the total value projected to reach 170 billion yuan ($23.84 billion).

The gold mine is part of the local Tugurige gold deposit near Ganqmod town, and its discovery is the latest successful result of the in-depth gold mine exploration in recent years. The prospecting team has completed 57 exploration drills covering an area of 2,520 square meters this year to locate the gold mine.

The result of the exploration will be used to serve future resource exploitation projects, provide a geological basis for exploitation range, and extend the expiration period of the mine, said the report.

The Urad Middle Banner has multiple natural mine resources including silver, iron, graphite, coal and crude oil. The banner has proven gold reserve of 143 tons and estimated reserves of 300 tons. The annual gold output of the banner is nearly 4.8 tons and it was one of the top 10 gold output counties and cities nationwide.

In addition, Urad Middle Banner also has over 100 million tons of crystalline graphite reserves waiting for exploitation, and the potential value may surpass 400 billion yuan, said the report.

In May this year, the gold reserves of Xiling gold mine in Laizhou, East China's Shandong Province were confirmed at 580 tons, making it China's largest single structured gold mine, according to a report by Qilu Evening News.

Global Times