Another 800 tons will be added to the country’s gold mine reserves this year and gold output will reach 290 tons, Miao Yu, vice minister of industry and information technology said recently at a national gold conference in Xiamen.

After current mergers and acquisition are completed, the country’s top 10 gold miners are expected to make up over 50 percent of the industry’s total output and profits, according to Miao.

Annual output reached a record high of 282 tons in 2008 with profits of 12.4 billion yuan, also reaching a new high.

Between 2003 and 2008, China’s annual gold output grew on average 7.6 percent each year, with profits growing 41 percent annually. About 700 tons are added to China’s gold mine reserves on average every year.

For more details, please check out the full Chinese coverage at:

http://paper.cs.com.cn/html/2009-03/20/content_19974996.htm

(China.org.cn March 20, 2009)