Experts estimate that the volume of gold in the deposit is 382.58 tons, and is potentially worth more than $22 billion, China News reported. The Xiling gold seam, located in the Laizhou-Zhaoyuan region of northwest Jiaodong Peninsula, is 67 meters wide and more than 2,000 meters long.
The average amount of gold in the rock is 4.52 grams per ton. At full capacity, the mine could continuously produce gold for 40 years, Shandong Gold Group Chairman Chen Yumin revealed at the press conference.
According to country's central bank statistics, reported in 2016, China had the fifth largest gold reserves in the world after the United States, Germany, Italy and France. The newly discovered mine is estimated to have the equivalent of 20% of the country's 1,843 tons of gold reserves.