Published on: 2026-09-01
Source: People’s Republic of China — Translation
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Beijing, September 1 /Xinhua/ — China has made a significant breakthrough in the exploration of copper and gold ores in the eastern Anhui Province, discovering a deposit that could become a major resource base and strengthen the country’s potential for securing key mineral resources.
According to the Ministry of Natural Resources of the PRC on Tuesday, the Chatin deposit is a deposit of cuproauride – a natural compound of copper and gold. It is located in the city of Xuancheng and lies within the copper-gold district of Nanling-Xuancheng in the metallogenic belt of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.
According to the ministry, the Chatin deposit, located in the center of the Yangtze River Delta, is a newly discovered concealed porphyry deposit beneath a volcanic cover that has the potential to reach super-large scale.
The main ore body is about 1.2 km long and about 1.1 km wide, with the maximum visible thickness exposed by a single drill hole reaching 1,371 meters.
Preliminary estimates show that the potential copper resources of the deposit exceed the scale of several large copper mines, and the potential gold resources may surpass the equivalent of more than 10 large gold ore deposits.
Drilling has not yet fully exposed the deeper sections of the ore body, which leaves significant potential for a reassessment of resources upwards. Associated silver and sulfur resources may also be extracted and utilized.
If developed, the deposit is expected to become a super-large copper and gold production base in eastern China, the ministry reported.
The Anhui Provincial Department of Natural Resources began funding and organizing general geological exploration work in the Chating area in 2008, and the exploration report was submitted in 2018.
In September 2025, the exploration rights for the Chatin copper-polymetallic prospective area were put up for public auction. The following month, Tibet Yulong Copper Co., Ltd. acquired these rights for 8.6 billion yuan (approximately 1.27 billion US dollars). After that, the company increased its exploration investments and completed drilling totaling nearly 100,000 meters within four months, the ministry reported.
The discovery of the Chatin deposit is part of the overall increase in geological exploration activities in China. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), the country identified 398 new large and medium-sized deposits of strategic minerals, including oil and gas fields, with historic breakthroughs achieved in the exploration of such bulk minerals as copper, gold, and potash, the ministry added.
China is also intensifying efforts to expand its domestic copper resource base. According to the implementation plan for high-quality development of the copper industry for 2025-2027, the country intends to increase copper ore reserves by 5-10% by 2027.
The plan provides for the activation of exploration in key copper ore metallogenic belts, an increase in copper reserves available for development, the development of copper resource bases in key regions, as well as the construction of a number of new large and medium copper mines.
Similar efforts are being made in the gold mining industry as well. According to the implementation plan for high-quality development of the gold mining industry for 2025-2027, it is expected that gold reserves in China will increase by 5-10 percent during this period, and gold and silver production will grow by more than 5 percent.
The plan also calls for increased geological exploration in key western regions, as well as at deep levels and flanks of existing large and medium mines. The copper-gold polymetallic resource area in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River is included in the list of key exploration areas under the plan. -0-
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