The Gold Administration Bureau of China on Tuesday has announced that gold making in the country's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in 2011 jumped by 15.18 per cent to register a new record high of 12.1 tonnes compared from a year ago.

Aided by its six gold enterprises with an annual production of over 500 kilograms each, plus 20 more firms with over 100 kilograms, Xinjiang this year 2012 is expected to produce 14 tonnes of gold, also an increase of over 15 per cent.

One of the major gold producers of China, Xinjiang has effectively boosted the country's gold production for eight consecutive years now.

Xinjiang, with a gold resource calculated to amount to 207.48 tonnes, has 28 metallogenic gold mine belts and over 600 gold mine sites.

China's gold consumption in 2011 reached 761.05 tons, a 33 per cent year-on-year hike, latest data released by the China Gold Association showed. Overall gold output in 2010 registered at 340.876 tonnes.

The World Gold Council (WGC), in its quarterly Gold Demand Trends report released earlier this month said global gold demand hit 14-year highs in 2011, fuelled by China's record gold investment and buying. China, according to WGC, could overtake India in 2012 as the world's top consumer of the precious safe haven yellow metal.

China's total demand for gold jumped 20 per cent to 769.8 tonnes, mainly on jewelry and investment demand, compared with a 7 per cent fall in Indian gold demand to 933.4 tonnes due to volatile gold prices and a weak rupee.

Overall gold mine output likewise registered a new annual record of 2,809.5 tonnes in 2011, up 4 per cent rise over 2010.

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