The world is a firm lover of gold but not many have seen such a fierce rise in the industry status as China. Since 2013, China has held the #1 spot for gold mining and production, stimulating a major boost in the middle class population, rising incomes, and an ever-rapidly developing urban environment across the country while the world watches.
The Shandong Province has been well known through the years as the country’s “gold belt”, contributing the bulk of China’s gold mining and production. November 11, 2015 marked another milestone for China by locating its first ever subsea deposit when a crew of surveyors located 470.47 tonnes of gold, worth an estimated $16 billion, 2,000 meters below the sea bottom in Laizhou Bay in the Shandong Province. Not only is this discovery the first of its kind for China but it is also the largest single deposit on record.
This major find is also creating a bit of a stir by presenting the country and mining team, Laizhou Rehi Mining, with the challenge of creating a new technology of which to reach a deposit at such depths. Normal mining prospection is conducted within 800 meters, 1,000 
meters, is at current time, considered to be a task unto itself. Add to that the difficulty of constructing a steady platform on the sea to recover the findings, something China has yet to tackle, and one is faced with quite a conundrum.
With China’s, year over year growth already placing them higher than their contenders, the Laizhou Bay discovery and any others in the upcoming years, will certainly make it harder for Russia, Australia and the United States to move up in rank as top producers.
The excitement surrounding this massive find and the potential for a developing a new technology will definitely keep eyes on this evolving story!
