China has taken another step forward in strengthening its dominance in the global economy. This time, Beijing is extracting gold from the ocean floor. Recently, Chinese geologists have discovered a massive gold mine off the coast of Laizhou city in eastern China's Shandong province. This is being called the largest gold mine located on the seabed in Asia.
The Laizhou region is already known as China's 'Gold Hub'. With this new discovery, the total gold reserves in this region have exceeded 3,900 tons. That's approximately 26% of China's total gold reserves!
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According to China's Ministry of Natural Resources, this gold mine hidden deep in the ocean has been identified using advanced ground-penetrating radar and artificial intelligence or AI.
Due to geopolitical conflicts worldwide, the demand for gold is steadily increasing. As a result, gold prices in the global market are now sky-high. The price per ounce or 28.349523 grams is hovering around $4,338.
Seizing the opportunity, Beijing has increased gold production. According to the China Gold Association, China is now the world's largest gold ore-producing country. Last year, they produced 377 tons of gold ore.
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However, in terms of gold reserves, China still lags behind countries like South Africa, Australia and Russia. Due to this gap, Beijing is focusing on gold exploration. Beijing is also increasing investment in the search for other valuable minerals.
The country's Ministry of Natural Resources has announced that it spent $16.47 billion, or more than 15,000 crore rupees in Indian currency, on geological exploration last year. This has brought success as well. Recently, large gold mines have also been discovered in Liaoning and Xinjiang provinces.
