China strikes gold – and copper – in deep-earth hunt

China has hit upon a major gold and copper find in Chating, Xuancheng City, east China's Anhui Province, a discovery that could pave the way for a massive new resource base, the Ministry of Natural Resources said on Tuesday.

The Chating copper-gold deposit, in the heart of the Yangtze River Delta, is one of the country's most promising recent finds with the potential to reach ultra-large scale.

Exploration of deep ore bodies is ongoing, but the mother lode identified so far is about 1.2 kilometers long and 1.1 kilometers wide.

Preliminary estimates suggest potential copper resources could exceed several large-scale deposits, each over 500,000 tonnes.

Potential gold veins could top more than 10 large deposits containing over 20 tonnes each.

Those numbers are expected to grow as exploration continues.

Hu Xianqi, director of the Geological Exploration Division, said the Chating project is one of the ministry's key explorations for 2026, and the breakthrough, achieved in just months, is significant.

"China's demand for copper is strong.

External supply reliance is high, but domestic exploration potential is enormous.

Chating is a vivid example," Hu said.

Copper is essential for solar, wind and new energy vehicles.

Once developed, the Chating deposit could supply raw materials to smelting and processing industries in eastern China, helping ease regional shortages.

The discovery is also expected to boost resource supply across the Yangtze River Delta and China's eastern economic belt, supporting regional integration.