Footage circulated on Chinese social media over the weekend showed dozens of people panning for gold in a river in Gansu province, despite repeated local government warnings that the activity is illegal.

In the video, which was later deleted, the persons were seen wading into the Yanzi River in Kangxian county of Longnan city. It claimed that "at 1 am, with temperatures at around 4 C, the river was full of people, and some managed to find more than 5 grams of gold in a single basin".

According to a report by Guizhou Radio and Television's Baixing Focus, several gold panners confirmed that traces of gold could indeed be found in the river. Nearby shop owners told reporters that similar scenes had been occurring since the start of the year. Although local authorities had previously halted the activity, residents said panning had recently started up again after dredging work in the riverbed resumed.

Staff at the Kangxian county government office told Jimu News on Saturday that individual gold panning is strictly prohibited, and that police had received several reports in recent days, including from workers clearing the riverbed. Officers were sent to patrol the area and disperse people entering the river at night, according to the report.

In July, the county's natural resources bureau issued a public notice banning illegal gold panning and published a hotline for residents to report violations. The Chengguan township government also warned in June that unauthorized mining was damaging the river's ecology and threatening waterway safety.

Under China's Mineral Resources Law, all mineral resources are owned by the State, and no individual or organization may explore or extract them without official permission.