A very large gold mine was discovered in Henan, and the initial estimated gold reserves were 31.55 tons

On October 27, the reporter learned from the Henan Provincial Bureau of Geology and Mineral Exploration and Development that recently, after 10 years of geological investigation, the bureau made a major breakthrough in prospecting in the area of Weishan City in Tongbai County, Henan Province, and found an extra-large gold mine, with a total of 16 gold ore bodies found, with an average ore body thickness of 1-3 meters. According to preliminary estimates, the gold mine received 31.55 tons of gold metal, which is very large, 456 tons of silver, 100,000 tons of lead and 90,000 tons of zinc. By the end of 2022, the amount of gold resources is expected to reach 50 tons, and the prospecting potential of the deep part of the mineralization belt is expected to exceed 100 tons.

Weishan City Gold Mine Exploration Site (Courtesy of Henan Provincial Bureau of Geology and Mineral Exploration and Development)

It is reported that the mine is located in Tongbai County - Dabie gold, silver, lead and zinc three-level mineralization belt, is one of the important gold and silver mineralization belts in China, since the 90s of last century, prospecting has not been a major breakthrough. Since 2011, the Henan Bureau of Geology and Mineral Exploration and Development has implemented a series of china geological survey bureau mining agglomeration projects and provincial financial geological exploration and prospecting projects, and the project team has changed its prospecting ideas, established a "trinity" mineralization model and a comprehensive information prospecting prediction model for typical deposits of magma hydrothermal silver cave slope gold deposits, and achieved a breakthrough in prospecting.

It is understood that Henan Province is rich in gold resources, mainly distributed in Xiaoqinling, Funiu Mountain, Bears Ears Mountain, Tongbai Mountain and other places. Since 1984, Henan Province's gold production has been second only to Shandong Province, ranking second in the country for a long time. In 2020, Henan Province's mineral gold was 35.236 tons, and smelters produced 67.94 tons of gold.