JINAN, Nov. 25 -- East China's Shandong Province's proven gold deposit reserves have reached a record high over the past three years, ranking at top one in the country, a statement from the provincial resources department said.

Since 2011, Shandong has discovered gold deposits with total estimated reserves of 2,080 tonnes, said Liu Jianpu, head of the provincial land and resources department.

Liu said the figure also surpassed the gold mine reserves found by the province between 1949 and 2010, which stood at 1,932 tonnes.

The province funded a total of 4.82 billion yuan (about 780 million U.S. dollars) worth of geological prospecting missions over the past three years, and discovered 108 major mineral deposits. New finds included 2.5 billion tonnes of iron reserves over the past three years.

In addition, Shandong has invested more than 3.1 billion U.S. dollars on mineral prospecting and mining overseas, and obtained more than 300 mining rights in 31 countries, Liu said.