Hubei’s Known Phosphorite Reserves Grow to 6.34 Billion Tons

The government of Hubei province (central China) has invested RMB5.8 billion to look for phosphorite in the past six years, finding 216 new phosphorite fields and raising the estimate of its phosphorite reserves by over 3.5 billion tons to 6.34 billion tons, according to the Department of Land and Resources of Hubei Province.
   In addition, known reserves of iron ore rose 289 million tons, those of manganese ore went up 8.12 million tons, those of gold increased 71.9 tons, those of silver grew 968.86 tons, those of copper grew 950 600 tons, those of lead and zinc rose a combined 340 700 tons, and those of natural gas grew 51.7 billion cubic meters.
In the survey of shale gas, important discoveries were made in western Hubei, and conventional gas was found for the first time in marine strata near Yichang city, Hubei province.