Yantai, a gold city in China

Yantai, a city of gold, has been recognized as the “Top Gold Producer in China” for 39 consecutive years.

Yantai, endowed with rich gold resources, is honored as the “Hometown of Gold”. Its gold reserves take up one-fourth of China’s total.

Gold has become one of the four pillar industries in Yantai. It has been home to the gold mines with the longest history and the largest mineral companies and metallurgical plants.

Since 1949, the gold industry in Yantai has enjoyed rapid development. According to the Yantai gold bureau, there are 86 gold companies above a designated size. In 2013, Yantai’s gold output reached 146.5 tons, accounting for 36.3 percent and 83 percent of China and Shandong’s total, respectively.

Major corporations, such as Shandong Gold Group, Shandong Zhaojin Group, Shandong Zhongkuang Group, Yantai Humon Group and Penglai Gold Group, are taking the lead in Yantai’s gold industry.

Zhaoyuan county in Yantai is a major producer of gold, with its gold output ranking first among all county-level cities in China for 39 years in a row.

Currently, there are about 190 gold-related companies with over 40,000 employees. Yantai has 15 metallurgical plants that focus on the recycling and utilization of gold and other mineral resources, such as silver, copper, lead-zinc, sulfur, iron and arsenic. More than 60 gold manufacturing enterprises can make all kinds of mining equipment that have a daily mining capacity under 100,000 tons.

Gold tourism is a new driving force of Yantai’s gold industry. The gold museum, gold mining town and largest shopping mall for gold jewelry in North China attract 1.5 million visitors every year.

Zhaoyuan has become a base for gold mining, refining, processing and sales in Yantai, with an annual processing capacity of 200 tons of gold and silver products, 70 tons of standard gold ingots and 105 tons of standard silver ingots. Many domestic well-known gold accessory brands grew up here, such as “Zhaojin”, “L. Gold Miracle”, “Zhaojin Gold House” and “Luxin”.

In 2013, the sales revenue of Zhaoyuan’s gold industry amounted to 60.44 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 12.54 percent. The profits reached 2.64 billion yuan.