Chinese media have reported discovering a remarkable deposit of high-grade gold ore that is estimated to contain approximately 1,000 metric tons of precious metal in the ground.
This is actually the richest gold reserve in the world and it outperforms even the South Deep mine by at least 100 tons of yellow metal. This deposit is worth in total about 600 billion yuan (83 billion US dollars).
The Geological Bureau of China said in a statement that it had found 40 gold veins that go down 1.2 miles below the ground in northeastern Hunan. According to the available data, these veins have 300 tons of this valuable metal. 3D mapping suggests that even more may be discovered at about 2-mile depth.
A core sample is a cylindrical piece typically taken from a naturally occurring material. Most core samples are collected by drilling into substances like sediment, rock, or gold ore using specialized drills equipped with a hollow steel tube, known as a core drill.
Prospectors found gold in most of the drilled pieces. The cores indicate that one metric ton from the site contains on average about 5 ounces of gold – an uncommonly big value, given that ore is often considered high-grade if gold concentration is 17 times lower.
China is an absolute leader in the gold trade with reserves of over 2,000 tons only this year. The country’s mining sector accounts for around 10% of the world’s total gold production. On an even more positive note, drill cores from around the Hunan region indicate that the deposit can go even deeper than 2 miles, which would make $83 billion the lowest estimate.
It’s unclear, though, how many large gold deposits are still to be found on the planet. It’s a limited resource that was created billions of years ago during star formation. Furthermore, even after the metal is fully formed, geological phenomena take billions of years to make it mineable.
With this being said, it’s clear that gold deposits aren’t yet depleted, and some promising discoveries have been made beyond the Republic of China even this year. In March, a prospector enthusiast from England unearthed what may be the heaviest gold nugget in this country. Moreover, a team of Australian scientists established the role of seismic processes in the creation of gold nuggets just a few months ago.
Remarkably, scientists are trying to recreate the structure of this metal on the atomic level under laboratory conditions. In particular, a recent study came out, describing a 2D variety of gold that is one single layer of atoms thick (the so-called “goldenene”) in April. This material has some unique characteristics that bulk gold simply doesn’t.
Thus, although aurum has definitely held a special place throughout our history, these most recent discoveries demonstrate that it is still as mysterious as ever.
