China says it has uncovered Asia’s largest undersea gold deposit, a massive offshore find that strengthens domestic supply, reshapes regional resource rankings, and highlights Beijing’s accelerating push to secure strategic minerals.
China has reported the discovery of a major undersea gold deposit that officials have characterized as the largest of its kind in Asia. The find was reported to be located off the coast of Laizhou in Shandong province, according to a South China Morning Post report published on Dec. 19. The discovery was presented in connection with China’s broader, long-running mineral exploration program.
The report explains that the undersea gold deposit was revealed by Yantai’s city government during a conference reviewing achievements under the current five-year plan and outlining priorities for the next cycle. Officials from the Yantai Municipal People’s Government confirmed earlier this week that the specific subsea site, known as the Sanshan Island (Haiyu) Gold Mine, contains proven cumulative reserves of 562 tonnes. This deposit, evaluated under international JORC (Joint Ore Reserves Committee) standards, features a high average grade of 4.2 grams of gold per tonne of ore.
Officials indicated that the addition lifted Laizhou’s total proven gold reserves to more than 3,900 tonnes, equivalent to about 26 per cent of China’s national total, placing the city first nationwide in both gold reserves and output. To facilitate extraction at depths reaching 2,000 meters below sea level, authorities announced a planned investment of 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion). The state-of-the-art facility is expected to process 12,000 tonnes of ore daily, yielding an estimated 15 tonnes of gold annually and providing a significant boost to China’s domestic supply chain.
The offshore discovery follows a series of significant inland finds announced over the past two years, including a super-large, low-grade gold deposit in Liaoning with confirmed reserves of 1,444.49 tonnes and another deposit in the Kunlun Mountains near Xinjiang with estimated reserves exceeding 1,000 tonnes. These 2025 discoveries represent a “geological breakthrough” for Beijing, coming at a time when spot gold prices have significantly surged, trading near $4,340 per ounce as of mid-December. These discoveries have contributed to renewed assessments of China’s gold endowment, although the country continues to trail South Africa, Australia, and Russia in terms of proven reserves.
According to the report, the undersea gold find forms part of a wider push by Chinese authorities to expand domestic mineral resources through sustained investment and technological upgrades. Geologists are now deploying “New Quality Productive Forces,” including AI-driven mineral modeling and high-powered ground-penetrating radar, to identify deep-vein deposits that were previously inaccessible. China invested 115.99 billion yuan in geological exploration last year, bringing cumulative spending since 2021 to nearly 450 billion yuan and resulting in the identification of about 150 mineral deposits. The country remains the world’s largest producer of gold ore, with output reaching 377 tonnes last year, while gold retains importance as both a financial hedge and a material used in electronics and aerospace manufacturing.