The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), Chinese government’s economic-planning arm, said in its reports that the country produced 240.08 tonnes of gold in 2006, an increase of 7.15 per cent versus a year earlier and it plans to raise its gold output by 8 per cent this year to 260 tonnes.

In 2006, the country’s gold mine reserves increased to more than 650 tonnes. The NDRC said that with total reserves of 258 tonnes, the Yangshan gold mine in northwest China's Gansu province became the country’s largest gold mine deposit, with considerable progress in the traditional gold-producing areas of Qinlin and Shangong.

The report said that 2006 was a year of consolidation for China’s gold mining industry, with the total number of gold mines reducing to fewer than 1,000.