The China Geological Survey Bureau (CGS) announced on Friday
that in 2007 the country's gold prospecting efforts experienced
significant findings, with five major gold mines discovered.
The CGS said that the five mines include the copper-gold mine in
Gandise of Tibet Autonomous Region, the Dachang gold mine in
Qinghai Province, the Yangshan gold mine in southern Gansu
Province, the Sizhuang gold mine in Shandong Province and the
Baolun gold mine in Hainan Province.
In addition, a number of gold deposits have been found on the
peripheries of some lead and zinc mines.
The five mines boast a combined gold reserve of some 600 tons,
and there is still great potential for further prospecting, the CGS
said.
The Shandong peninsular in east China is one of the country's
most important gold producers, with a proved gold reserve of over
1,000 tons so far.
In 2007, China overtook the United States to become the world's
second largest gold producer with an output of 270.491 tons, only
next to South Africa, which produced 272 tons of gold in 2007. Gold
consumption by China's manufacturing sector was about 9.2 percent
of the global total, according to official data.
China plans to produce 1,300 tons of gold and verify gold mine
reserves of 3,000 to 5,000 tons in the five-year period between
2006 and 2010, according to the State Development and Reform
Commission.
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(Xinhua News Agency February 9, 2008)
