A deposit of gold amounting to more than 1,000 metric tons with an estimated value of more than $83 billion in U.S. dollars has been discovered in central China.

The Geological Bureau of Hunan Province’s (GBHP) scientific team reports discovering over 40 veins of gold nestled below the Wangu gold field in Pingjiang County.

The discovery eclipses the 900-metric-ton gold deposits waiting to be claimed from beneath the 6,500-foot-deep South Deep Mine in South Africa.

The South Deep Gold Mine is a bulk mechanized mining operation located in the Witwatersrand Basin, near Westonaria, some 32 miles southwest of Johannesburg, South Africa’s commercial capital.

GBHP’s preliminary drilling findings reveal more than 300 metric tons of gold in the veins below a depth of 6,500 feet, with an additional 700 metric tons extending to a depth of 9,800 feet, almost two miles.

GBHP mining experts have determined that ore samples taken at the gold discovery site suggest that every metric ton of ore could contain upwards of 138 grams of pure gold.

At the Dec. 2 closing spot price of gold reported by the London Bullion Market Association, $2,642.15 per troy ounce, 138 grams of gold would be worth $11,724.

Chinese mining experts indicate the quantity of pure gold per metric ton of ore is unprecedented, since eight grams of gold per metric ton of ore is considered high quality.

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