A large gold deposit has been found in Xinshao County, central China's Hunan Province, according to local sources.

A spokesman for the team of prospectors said that the gold deposit would likely exceed 27 tons.

The gold ore reserve is located inside Daxin Township of Xinshao, central Hunan Province, near Baima Mountain.

"After five years of prospecting, we have verified 14 gold ore reefs, " said the spokesman.

Discovering the gold will help the central Chinese province's

economic development, said an official in charge of geological prospecting for the provincial land resources bureau.

Statistics show that currently, China has more than 1,200 gold mines, but more than 60 percent process only 50 tons of ores a day.

China produced 224 tons of gold in 2005.

Source: Xinhua