Gold worth $16.4 billion discovered in the East China Sea!

At the bottom of the East China Sea near Sanshan Island, at a depth of 2000 metres, the largest gold deposit in history has been discovered! Its value has been estimated at an astronomical $16.4 billion. The deposit is the first find of its kind in China, although its discoverers hope that this is only the beginning of similar discoveries.

-- Advertisement --

As reported by chinatopic.com, from information provided by the Shandong Provincial No. 3 Institute of Geological and Mineral Survey, the huge deposit contains about 470 tonnes of gold! This amount, at the current price of $1,090.75 per ounce, adds up to an almost unimaginable $16.4 billion.

It took Laizhou Ruihai Mining Ltd 3 years to carry out these arrangements. During this time, wells were drilled over an area covering 120km, using 67 drilling rigs and involving more than 1,000 geological workers.

“Placing platforms on the seabed and carrying out drilling is an extremely difficult task.” – said Ding Zhengjiang, vice director of Shandong Provincial No. 3 Institute. As he explains in 2012, it took 24 hours to set up the first rig! With the passage of time and as experience and technology grew, this period was reduced to 8 hours.

“Drilling at depths of more than 1,000 metres is a huge challenge.” – Zhang Junjin, project manager, added: “Normally in China, surface gold mines do not exceed drilling to a depth of 800 metres. The discovery of deposits at a depth of 2,000 metres has created a demand for a completely new technology that we will use in the future.”

Companies involved in the exploration and exploitation of natural resources are increasingly turning their eyes to the seabed. According to estimates, the number of companies that have entered this sector has tripled in recent years.

Source: chinatopix.com