The Geological Bureau of Hunan Province said on Thursday that it had detected more than 40 gold veins containing an estimated 300 tons of the precious metal.
For the next stage of the Fourmile project, Barrick plans to start a three-year prefeasibility study in 2025.
The French miner was this year given a sales quota by the Asian nation that was 29% less than it expected.
The Cobre Panama mine paid the price for the accumulated national discontent, said President José Raúl Mulino.
