Over 1000 tons of gold could be found in a Hunan Deposit . Treasure underground: Geologists have discovered a huge gold deposit in the Chinese province of Hunan. It could contain more than a thousand tons of gold – that’s equivalent to 80 billion dollars and would be one of the largest gold deposits on earth. 40 gold veins containing 300 tons of gold have already been identified in the upper 2,000 meters of the site, and the remaining gold is believed to be at a depth of 3,000 meters.
Gold is a very special element – not only because of its durability and its material and sentimental value, but also because this precious metal still poses a number of mysteries. For example, how could large gold deposits be formed when gold is extremely rare in the earth’s crust? So far, this has only been partially clarified. In some places, earthquakes , hydrothermal springs or the presence of oil and uranium could have promoted the enrichment, in other cases the activity of microbes or the mineral pyrite.
Huge deposit under well-known gold field
Now geologists have discovered another large gold deposit. According to the Chinese news agency Xinhua, the deposit was discovered beneath the already known Wangu gold field in Hunan Province. By drilling on the edges of the gold field as well as using geophysical exploration methods and 3D modeling, geologists from the Hunan Geological Survey made the previously undetected, deeper gold deposits visible.
This revealed that there are more than 40 gold veins in the upper 2,000 meters of the underground alone and a recoverable gold reserve of 300 tons. However, the gold deposit extends to even greater depths. “Many of the drill cores we extracted showed visible gold,” Chen Rulin of the Hunan Geological Survey told Yinghua. According to initial analyses, the gold concentration is up to 138 grams per ton of ore – which is relatively high.
Currently the largest gold deposit on earth
Overall, geologists estimate that this deposit could contain more than 1,000 tons of gold at depths of up to 3,000 meters. This amounts to about 80 billion dollars in worth. If this is confirmed, the Chinese gold deposit would be the largest natural gold deposit on earth. The previous record holder, the South Deep Gold Mine in South Africa, contains an estimated 930 tons of the precious metal.
In response to the discovery of the new gold deposit, the price of gold has already skyrocketed. However, it is expected that China will not sell the gold mined from the Wangu deposit to the world market, but will use it domestically. This is because China currently needs around three times as much gold as it can mine itself and is heavily dependent on imports.