Officials said 300 tonnes (10.5 million oz. gold) had already been identified within 2,000 metres of the surface and extrapolated total resources at 3,000 metres depth to reach the 32 million oz. figure.
Chen Rulin, a geologist at the bureau, said he found visible gold in rock cores. Xinhua reported high-grade intercepts of up to 138 grams gold per tonne at the 2,000-metre-depth range.
But WGC senior market strategist John Reade says it’s not that simple.
“The 1,000-tonne potential resource sounds aspirational,” he said Monday in an emailed response to The Northern Miner. “The 300-tonne figure appears more reasonable—perhaps an inferred or indicated resource. Much more drilling would be needed to turn this into a reserve,” he said.
He noted that Chinese mineral reporting standards do not align with global frameworks like Canada’s NI 43-101 or Australia’s JORC code. So, independent…
