Gold ore resources

Gold ore resources

　　Gold ore resources

　　In the Qinling region of Tongguan County, a variety of minerals such as gold, silver, lead, graphite, marble, and vermiculite are buried, spread over a wide area with relatively abundant reserves. According to discoveries, a stone inscription in a mining cave from the Northern Song Dynasty “Chongning Third Year” (1104) shows that local people were mining gold ore approximately 900 years ago. Mining cave ruins have been found in valleys such as Tongyu, Haocha, Taiyu, and...

　　Gold ore resources

　　In the Qinling region of Tongguan County, a variety of minerals such as gold, silver, lead, graphite, marble, and vermiculite are buried, spread over a wide area with relatively abundant reserves. According to discoveries, a stone inscription in a mining cave from the Northern Song Dynasty “Chongning Third Year” (1104) shows that local people were mining gold ore approximately 900 years ago. Mining cave ruins have been found in valleys such as Tongyu, Haocha, Taiyu, and Dongtongyu, with as many as 72 tunnels alone in Mayu. Successive dynasties repeatedly prohibited commoners from mining and utilizing these resources. During the Ming Dynasty, 17 military commanders brutally suppressed the miners. The Qing Dynasty’s *Tongguan Wei Zhi* (Annals of Tongguan Wei) recorded in the section on “local worthies” how Tongguan Wei Commander Sheng De suppressed the miners: “In the 29th year of the Jiajing reign, the miners became rampant. He led troops to strike them, but the troops collapsed. He fought hard and was eventually killed by the rebels.” The *New Annals of Tongguan County* noted: “Below the Buddha Head Cliff in Xitongyu, there is a copper mine which the government once mined but stopped due to immature ore veins.” It also recorded that during the Qing Dynasty, mining experts surveyed the area and marked stones. It further stated: “In the southwest at Niujiaoling, there is a coal mine. In the 10th year of the Republic of China (1921), people pooled funds to mine it but had to stop due to exhausted capital, though it is unclear whether there actually was coal.” After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, during the “Great Leap Forward” steel production campaign in 1958, locals discovered gold sand while extracting iron sand from the Dongtongyu River, which briefly gained widespread attention. In 1965, the Shaanxi Provincial Geological Bureau sent exploration teams to survey mineral resources in the Qinling Mountains of the county. Through general surveys, preliminary investigations, and detailed surveys, gold ore was confirmed to exist. In 1972, the county began preparations to develop a marble mine. Around 1975, collective and individual mining, processing, and auxiliary industries such as vermiculite, marble, and vermiculite processing rapidly emerged in mountainous areas.