China’s Largest Ever Gold Deposit Found in Shandong with a Potential Value of More Than RMB 15 billion



China’s Largest Ever Gold Deposit Found in Shandong with a Potential Value of More Than RMB 15 billion

Early this year, a world-class giant single gold mine was discovered in Shandong Province - the largest province of gold production in China. "The Xiling gold deposit of the Sanshandao mining area" detected by Shandong Gold Group (SD-GOLD) currently has a registered 382.58 tons of gold and is estimated to deliver more than 550 tons of gold after completion of exploration. It is expected to become the largest gold deposit ever in China.

The Laizhou-Zhaoyuan region of Northwestern Jiaodong Peninsula is the most important gold concentration area, and a national Integrated Exploration Area in China, with its gold reserves and gold yield both ranking first in the country. It is also a rare super-large gold enrichment area in the world, with intensively-distributed gold mines and huge mineral deposits, among which the Linglong-Jiaojia type gold deposit enjoys a worldwide reputation. The region has become an important gold production base. The Xiling gold deposit is located in this region, adjacent to the Sanshandao gold mine. This region is geologically located in the west of theNorth China Plate - North Jiaodong Peninsula upfaulted zone - North Jiaodong Peninsula Uplifted zone, adjacent to the Yishu Faulted Zone to the west and Linglong super-unit intrusive rock to the east. The region is deep and wide with fracture developments, providing a favorable condition for gold-rich mines.

The deposit has a strike length of more than 2,000 meters and a local thickness of 67 meters. Currently, 382.58 tons of gold has been detected and the average grade is 4.52 g / ton. This result was registered with the Shandong Provincial Department of Land and Resources on March 8, 2017. The deposit has officially entered the exploration stage. Through drilling and encrypted construction, the deposit is expected to cumulatively deliver more than 550 tons of gold, with a potential economic value of more than RMB 150 billion. It will become China's largest recorded single gold deposit. If calculated at a production rate of 10,000 tons/day, it can continue full-load production for 40 years.

During the "13th Five-Year" plan period, SD-GOLD put forward the business philosophy of "resource first". The discovery and evaluation of the Xiling mining area as SD-GOLD's most important high-quality resource exploration area has not only enriched the strategic gold resource reserves of Shandong Province, but facilitated overall development and comprehensive utilization of resources because it is located in the same region with multiple other gold deposits of SD-GOLD. It will generate considerable economic and social benefits and provide strong support for achieving the "13th Five-Year" development goals. More importantly, the discovery of the Xiling gold deposit creates a precedent for deep exploration of rock and metal in China, and promotes the progress of deep mine-forming theory research and deep exploration technology, which not only has an important pragmatic significance for deep mine exploration in the gold concentration area of Northwest Jiaodong Peninsula, but provides a reference model for deep mine exploration research in China, and will play an important guiding role in deep gold mine exploration in Shandong Province and even the whole country.