'Supergiant' Gold Deposit Could Be Worth Over US$80 Billion

A "supergiant" deposit of high-quality gold ore containing an estimated 1,000 metric tons (1,100 US tons) of the precious metal has been discovered in central China, according to Chinese state media. Valued at up to approximately 600 billion yuan or US$83 billion, the discovery could be one of the largest and most lucrative reservoirs of gold ever uncovered, surpassing the 900 metric tons estimated to lie within the mother of all gold reserves, South Deep mine in South Africa.

Editor's note: An earlier version of this article suggested the newly found deposit was the world's largest, which has not been verified. ScienceAlert has updated the article, noting some commentators are not yet convinced of the deposit's scale and feasability.
The Geological Bureau of Hunan Province announced the detection of 40 gold veins within a depth of 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) in the northeast Hunan county of Pingjiang.