Beijing, China, 19 Nov – The China National Gold Group Corporation (CNGGC), China’s main gold producer, has announced it is searching for gold deposits in countries such as Brazil, Venezuela, Russia, Mongolia and the Congo, the China Daily newspaper reported Thursday.

Du Haiqing, the company’s vice president, said in Tianjin (southeast of Beijing) that CNGGC is looking for gold deposits abroad in order to increase its production by 20 tons by the end of 2015.

“We are looking for deposits in the Congo, Brazil, Russia, Venezuela and Mongolia and in most are in the first phase of geological exploration,” Du Haiqing told the newspaper.

With around 70 gold deposits across China, the state company produces 10 percent of the country’s gold, and is the world’s largest gold producer and the third largest consumer, with reserves totalling 1,300 tons this year.

In the third quarter of this year, demand for gold rose 12 percent totalling 922 tons, due to a rise in consumption by emerging economies such as India, China, Russia and Turkey, according to figures from the World Gold Council published this week. (macauhub)