An ancient means of payment achieves new eminence. The yellow metal being increasingly demanded is seen reinforcedly as an alternative investment. Now the gold price is more than 836 USD per ounce approaching 850 USD, which was the price in 1980. An important reason is the US Dollar’s weakness, of course. Also the continuously high oil price. And, the noble metal is increasingly demanded by some emerging nations, e.g. China.

An actual survey is about the gold industry in China. It gives an overview about the gold industry, policy and technique environment, gold supply and demand in domestic market, import and export trade of the gold industry, investment and financing of China’s domestic gold industry and about the operation of China’s main enterprises in gold industry.
As of 2006, China’s newly-increased gold ore reserve had exceeded 650 tons. Breakthrough has been made in exploring ore in existing mines, and the exploitation in west China has made considerable progress. According to the data from National Bureau of Statistics, the top 20 gold enterprises except refineries had the gross output of 194,011 tons in 2006, accounting for over 80% of the nation’s total.

It is estimated that by 2010, China’s gold output may be about 280-300 tons, and in the forthcoming five years, the annual growth rate of China’s gold output may remain at 5% approximately.

The survey: 

http://www.markt-studie.de/studien/china-gold-industry-report-2007-inh-15292.html#inhalt