Huge silver deposit discovered in Inner Mongolia

Chinese media is reporting that a large deposit of silver has been found in the autonomous region of Inner Mongolia.

According to Xinhua, the state-owned news agency, the deposit contains over 100 million tonnes of silver ore. It wasn't clear from the media report whether that number refers to resources or reserves, but it must be resources, since Chinese silver reserves currently only stand at 39,000 tonnes, states the US Geological Survey. The deposit is located in Shuangjianzi Mountain in Inner Mongolia. Accurate mining statistics are notoriously difficult to pin down from China, which often inflates them.

The USGS puts China in fifth place in terms of silver production and reserves, behind the United States, Australia, Bolivia and Chile. The largest silver producer is Mexico, at 5,600 tonnes, and the country with the largest reserves is Peru, at 120,000 tonnes.

In 2015 Kitco pegged China as producing 128,603,000 ounces of silver, primarily as a byproduct of lead and zinc mining. The two primary silver mines are Canada-based Silvercorp's (NYSE,TSX:SVM) Ying mine, which produced 6.5 million ounces in 2017, and the Shizishan mine owned by China Polymetallic, which produced 2.4 million ounces in 2013 (current production numbers unavailable).

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