THE LARGEST gold deposit in the world, worth over an eye-watering £63 billion, has been discovered in China.
Geologists think there is over 1,000 tonnes of gold waiting to be discovered in a massive deposit. This amount would be sufficient to produce 500 million rings.
The shock discovery was made at the Wangu gold field in China’s central Hunan province.
More than 40 veins, which are long and thin openings in rocks filled with gold, were found under the fields in Pingjiang County.
Drilling revealed more than 300 tonnes of the precious metal was just in the veins around 2,000 meters deep.
Scientists from the Geological Bureau of Hunan Province used 3D modelling to predict the veins could reach a depth of 3,000 meters and hold an extra 700 tonnes of gold, according to state media.
This enormous pot of gold could be enough to make hundreds of millions of rings.
The average gold ring weighs about two grams and there are one million grams in a tonne.
Therefore, the huge 1,000 tonnes of gold would weigh one billion grams, potentially giving 500 million gold rings.
Geologist Chen Rulin revealed how rich this discovery had been.
He said: “Many drilled rock cores showed visible gold.”
Rulin revealed that even more gold could be found as the precious metal was discovered on the outskirts of the site.
This stash is not only rich with the amount of gold there but also with the type.
Tests from the deposit showed each tonne of ore on the site contains around 138 grams of pure gold.
This is considerably higher than the minimum consideration for high-quality gold which is eight grams per tonne.
GBHP revealed that the discovery was made when the gold deposit’s edge was drilled.
This means even more gold than expected could be found in future searches.
Plans to develop the prosperous site have not yet been announced by Chinese officials.
Before this discovery, the country’s biggest site was the Xiling gold mine in the eastern Shandong Province.
This site has around 600 million tonnes of the precious metal.
South Africa’s South Deep mine is the current largest known mine in the world, with around 929 tonnes of metal.
