PRC Gold Figures For 1999 Come In

Gold production for mainland China did break 300 metic tons for 2009, easily:

China produced 313.98 metric tons (MT) of gold in 2009, up 11.34% year-on-year and marking the first time the country's annual output has exceeded 300MT, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) on March 5.

Given that gold mining's becoming a major industry, and given its growth, PRC officials' concentration on buying domestically-produced gold for reserves is understandable.