A recent exploration has discovered that a gold mine in Sichuan province has 81.06 metric tons of gold resources, making it the largest in the province, according to the local natural resources department on Wednesday.

The Dongbeizhai gold deposit exploration project in Songpan county recently passed an examination by the provincial mineral resources reserves evaluation center. The result showed an additional 28.24 gold resources than earlier estimates. The average gold grade of the deposit is 3.75 grams per ton.

The deposit was first discovered in the 1970s. It has undergone nearly 100,000 meters of drilling, with more than 4,000 meters of drifts constructed, and 35,000 samples collected.

The discovery set an example for mineral exploration nationwide and provided resource support for building a strategic gold base in western Sichuan, the local natural resources department said.

Qi Zichen contributed to this story.