Geologists Might Have Stumbled Upon the Largest Gold Mine in the World
Story by Tim Newcomb
Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story:
- A “supergiant” gold ore deposit under an existing gold mine in China could be the world’s largest gold ore deposit.
- Officials estimate that the extent of the find could be 1,100 tons stretching as deep as 9,800 feet below the surface.
- The find also shows promise as that of a high-quality producer of gold.
A deposit of gold ore recently discovered in China isn’t just giant. It’s supergiant. So much so, in fact, that Chinese experts claim it could be the largest deposit of any precious metal—not just gold ore—in existence today.
How big is the “supergiant” deposit located under the Wangu gold field in the Hunan province? Experts estimate it at 1,100 tons.
According to Chinese state media, a team of geologists detected over 40 gold veins of roughly 330 tons of gold ore dipping 6,600 feet deep under Pingjiang County’s Wangu gold field. But 3D modeling blows that number out of the water, showing there could be as much as 1,100 tons as deep as 9,800 feet. If the models are accurate, the deposit in its entirely could be worth roughly $83 billion.
Adding some more heft to the already weighty (literally) find was the report that the new discovery features 138 grams of gold per metric ton of ore, a valuable rate not often found in gold mining. “Many drilled rock cores showed visible gold,” said Chen Rulin, an ore-prospecting expert at China’s Hunan Province’s Geological Bureau, according to Chinese state media.
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