On Friday, the Chinese state-run gold-miner Shandong Gold Mining announced the an additional 200 tons of gold resources have been discovered by its controlling shareholder in the Xiling gold mine in Laizhou, in the Province of Shandong, in eastern China.

With this new discovery, the total cumulative gold reserves at the mine will be brought up to 580 tons, giving the mine a total economic value of 200 billion yuan ($28. billion), and making it the largest deposit of gold in the country.

At almost 2,000 meters long, and over 2,000 meters wide, the mine has a maximum thickness of 62.35 meters. The density of gold ore averages 4.26 grams of gold per ton. It is estimated the deposit will eventually produce roughly 10,000 tons of gold ore daily, and it will be able to do that for roughly 30 years.

Feng Tao, deputy general manager of Shandong Gold Group, the mine’s owner, said, “We drilled more than 180 holes over 300,000 meters. One of the drill holes is 4,006.17 meters deep, a precedent for small-diameter drilling in our country.”

In March, China reported that there had been another gold deposit discovered in Rushan, which is also located in Shandong Province. It is estimated to contain a reserve of almost 50 tons, which was valued at about $3 billion.

According to the China Gold Association, Shandong’s northeastern region is the location of China’s largest gold mine reserves, producing the highest gold output and the largest reserves in the nation.

China reportedly produced 84.97 tons of raw gold in the first quarter of 2023, which was an increase of 1.88% over the first quarter of 2022. However the nation’s rate of gold consumption surged 12% year over year, to more than 291 tons.