China produced 145 tons of gold in the first seven months of the year, a rise of 15.44 percent over the same period last year and the biggest growth in the past decade, according to statistics of China Gold Association.

Chinese gold industry produced 240 tons of gold and raked in a profit of 6.1 billion yuan (about 763 million US dollars) last year, according to a report made at a forum on development of China's gold held held in Zhaoyuan, a well-known gold producing area in east China's Shandong province, on Tuesday.

China has witnessed a fast expansion in gold production capacity in recent years. The number of the country's gold producers with an annual output of more than one ton has gone up from 25 in 2001 to nearly 40.

Besides Zhaoyuan, Lingbao in Henan Province, Qianxinan in Guizhou Province and Tongguan in Shaanxi Province turned out about 40 tons of gold from January to July this year.

(Xinhua News Agency August 30, 2007)