China has claimed to have found a gold mine with estimated reserves of 550 tonnes in its eastern province. The country's Shandong Gold Group said on Tuesday that 382 tonnes of gold reserves had been detected till now in the Shandong Province, according to a report by news agency Xinhua.
The value of the reserves (550 tonnes) is estimated at $22 billion.
China's Laizhou-Zhaoyuan region ranks first in the country in terms of gold production and reserves.
In calendar year 2016, China's gold jewellery demand was 629 tonnes, down 17 percent from 753.4 tonnes in the previous year, indicating a falling preference for the yellow metal.
"Despite the fall in the gold price, gold jewellery demand fell far short of expectations during October's 'Golden Week' national holiday. We have previously highlighted that younger Chinese, in particular, prefer to spend their income on experiences such as travel, rather than on material things, including gold jewellery. And that trend certainly seemed to play out in October: as the number of domestic tourists soared from the previous year, sales of gold jewellery slumped," the World Gold Council said last month in its annual report.
In India, scientists said gold was traced in small quantity in the hill state of Uttarakhand in north India. "The gold values recorded from bedrock and stream sediment samples from the area are 475 ppb (parts per billion) and 1.42 ppm (parts per million), respectively," the IANS quoted Geological Survey of India (GSI) scientists as saying in a science journal.
In India, gold is produced in small quantities in Hutti, Uti and Hirabuddni, all of them in Karnataka.
Demand for gold fell 22 percent to 514 tonnes last year from 662 tonnes in 2015.
" India and China together accounted for almost 80 percent of the 347-tonne decline in fullyear demand," the WGC report said.
