Asia's Largest Undersea Gold Deposit Discovered In China

Beijing: In a landmark geological discovery, China has identified its first-ever underwater gold deposit near Laizhou, off the coast of Yantai in the province of Shandong. Chinese authorities have described it as the largest undersea gold find in the Asian continent, the South China Morning Post reported. The actual size of the gold deposit was not reported by the Chinese media.

The discovery has pushed Laizhou’s total proven gold reserves beyond 3,900 tonnes (around 137.57 million ounces), accounting for roughly 26 per cent of China's overall reserves. This further cements the city's position as the country’s leading region for both gold reserves and production, according to Yantai’s city government.

China is currently the world’s largest producer of gold ore, having mined about 377 tonnes (around 13.3 million ounces) last year, data from China Gold Association shows. Despite topping global production, the country still trails nations such as South Africa, Australia and Russia in terms of proven gold reserves.

The undersea gold find follows another major announcement made last month, when China revealed the discovery of its first super-large, low-grade gold deposit in Liaoning province in the country’s northeast. The deposit had confirmed reserves of 1,444.49 tonnes (50.95 million ounces), which the Ministry of Natural Resources described as the largest single gold deposit discovered since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. The discovery in November was reported to be the third 1,000-ton-plus gold deposit found in China over the last year.

China invested 115.99 billion yuan (about $16.47 billion) in geological exploration last year. Since the current five-year plan began in 2021, total spending on mineral exploration has climbed to nearly 450 billion yuan, leading to the discovery of around 150 mineral deposits, China's Ministry of Natural Resources said.

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