Massive seam of gold worth at least £9 BILLION is discovered in hard-up region of Germany



One of the poorest regions of former Communist East Germany is set to become a mini Klondike after a deep-boring machine hit a rich seam of pure gold.

At least £9billion worth - and possibly much more - of the precious metal has been found nearly 4,000ft down in a region called Lausitz where one-in-five are jobless.



Already the call has gone out for 800 miners to sign on for jobs and there are estimates that double that number could soon be on the payroll.



Valuable find: The gold was located in Lausitz, an area which has a high rate of unemployment

As well as hitting the gold seam, the company that has been boring into the earth near the Polish and Czech borders also struck the intended copper-bearing rock laden with an estimated 2.7 million tons, as well as lesser deposits of silver and platinum.

With copper trading on world markets on Friday at nearly £6,050 a ton, the copper alone is worth a fortune.

New seismological tests begin on Monday over a wider 50 square mile area before work gets underway on the mammoth task of drilling the first mine shafts.



It will be around seven years before the first gold is extracted but that is normal in precious metal mining.

The KSL mining company also reported that deposits of zinc and lead are also there for the taking.



Media reports spoke of an industry that could provide employment for half-a-century and strip German of some of its dependence on countries like China for raw mining materials essential to its heavy industries.

'Gold, at least 15 tons of it and possibly much more, has been found,' said a KSL spokesman.



Main source: Drilling for gold has been taking place near the town of Spremberg

'At the depths it is at it would at one time not have been profitable to try to extract it - but it is now.'

The gold seam was hit almost two years after drilling began.

Klaus-Peter Schulze, mayor of the town of Spremberg near to the drilling area, said: 'We have over 11 per cent joblessness here so this is fantastic news.

'We need miners, contractors, suppliers. This is the economic miracle that East Germany needed.'

