或许没有哪个故事比中国如何成为全球黄金生产大国的历程更能揭示其工业成功的秘诀了。
Perhaps no story illustrates the secret of China’s industrial success better than its rise as the world’s gold superpower.
几千年来，中国一直非常重视黄金这种金属，但其经济体系从未以黄金为基础——因为中国的黄金储量实在太匮乏了。
China has revered the metal for millennia, yet it has never had a gold-based economy. Its own deposits were simply too scarce.
1975年，当中国开始经济现代化进程时，它迫切需要黄金来为改革提供资金并积累外汇储备。尽管付出了巨大努力，中国的年黄金产量仅有13.8吨，远远低于当时的黄金生产强国南非（南非的年黄金产量是中国的数倍），加拿大、美国和澳大利亚的黄金产量也均超过了中国。
In 1975, as China began its economic modernisation, it desperately needed gold to fund reform and build up foreign reserves. Despite its best efforts, it produced a meagre 13.8 metric tons a year. South Africa, then the undisputed king of gold, produced many times that. Canada, the United States and Australia each comfortably outproduced China as well.
然而，情况逐渐发生了变化。2007年，中国超越南非，成为全球最大的黄金生产国，并一直保持着这一地位至今。如今，中国的年黄金产量达到了380吨，超过了南非、印度尼西亚和墨西哥三国黄金产量的总和。
Then, slowly but surely, everything changed. In 2007, China overtook South Africa to become the world’s largest gold producer, and it has held that position ever since. Today it churns out 380 metric tons a year, more than South Africa, Indonesia and Mexico combined.
这一成就绝非偶然。1979年，中国政府专门成立了专门的“黄金勘探团队”，派遣军队在全国范围内寻找黄金矿藏。不过，高品位的黄金矿藏直到最近两年才被成功发现（中国相继发现了达东沟和万古两大世界级黄金矿）。到那时，中国早已稳固了其全球黄金生产大国的地位。从黄金资源匮乏、依赖低品位矿石的国家发展成为全球黄金生产冠军，中国的这一历程堪称现代历史上最令人瞩目的工业奇迹之一。
This was no miraculous bonanza. Beijing did set up a “gold troop” in 1979, sending the military across the country to hunt for deposits. Yet high-grade finds remained elusive until the past two years, when China announced two world-class mines: Dadonggou and Wangu. By then, the country had long since secured its crown. Its journey from a gold-poor economy with low-grade ore to the top of the league table is among the most remarkable industrial turnarounds in modern history.
这一成就的背后，离不开技术创新、国家主导的工业政策以及精心的规划。
It came from technological innovation, state-led industrial policy and meticulous planning.
从20世纪90年代开始，中国的国家级科研机构开始掌握用于处理难处理矿石的压力氧化（POX）技术。简单来说，这项技术使得矿商能够以极低的成本（有时每吨矿石中仅含1克黄金）有效开采这些低品位矿石。一夜之间，中国那些此前被忽视的低品位矿藏变得具有商业开采价值，国家也因此获得了大量新的黄金储备。
From the 1990s, Chinese state research institutes began to master pressure oxidation (POX) for treating refractory ore. In layman’s terms, it lets miners profitably process ore with vanishingly low gold content, sometimes as little as one gram per metric ton of rock. Overnight, China’s vast, previously ignored low-grade fields became viable, and the country effectively gained a wealth of new reserves.
如今，中国约三分之一的黄金产量，即130吨，来自低品位矿床。POX技术助力中国成为全球主要产金国之一，产量超过排名第二的俄罗斯，是排名第七的美国的两倍多。
Today, about a third of China’s output, or 130 metric tons, comes from low-grade fields. POX has helped China become a leading gold producer, ahead of second-placed Russia and more than double the output of the seventh-placed United States.
耐人寻味的是，中国既不是这项技术的发明国，也没有建造规模最大的工厂，其运营成本也并非最低。美国和加拿大在20世纪末率先实现POX技术商业化，如今世界上一些规模最大、技术最先进的设施仍位于美国内华达州。俄罗斯则将这项技术推向规模化：其阿穆尔斯克枢纽拥有全球最大的POX压力氧化釜，而丰富的廉价天然气和水电 undoubtedly使俄罗斯工厂的运行成本降至全球最低。
Curiously, China neither invented the technology nor built the biggest plants. Nor are its operating costs the lowest. The US and Canada pioneered commercial POX in the late 20th century, and some of the world’s largest and most advanced facilities are still in Nevada. Russia took it to scale: its Amursk hub has the world’s biggest POX autoclave vessel, and abundant cheap gas and hydropower must give Russian plants the lowest running costs anywhere.
因此，在POX竞赛中，中国没有任何单项指标居首，往往只是位居第二。然而，凭借周密的规划和协调，中国成为效率最高的参与者 dominates the game。
So China wins in no single category in the POX race. It is often runner-up. Yet it dominates the game because it is the most efficient player, thanks to careful planning and coordination.
中国没有建设超大型设施，而是在全国各地运营数百个中型矿业集群。在美国，约75%的黄金产量来自单一地区——内华达州的卡林金矿带。中国的采矿业务布局广泛分散，因此一处事故或故障不会令整个系统陷入瘫痪。而且与南非矿山不同，中国的矿山由国家严密组织。生产、融资、运输和安保形成了一个闭环。中国并未建造一两座超级设施，而是打造了一个完整的生态系统。
Rather than build behemoths, China runs hundreds of medium-sized mining clusters across the country. In the United States, about 75 per cent of gold comes from a single region, Nevada’s Carlin Trend. China’s operations are widely dispersed, so one accident or glitch will not gridlock the whole system. And unlike South Africa’s mines, China’s are tightly organised by the state. Production, financing, transport and security are integrated in a closed loop. China did not build one or two mega facilities; it built an ecosystem.
财富的真正来源是人力劳动与技术、周密计划和组织的结合，而非自然资源。中国的成本优势确实存在，但较为复杂。其运营成本高于俄罗斯，但明显低于北美或南非。俄罗斯工厂的运行成本或许略低，但建厂和物流成本却高得多。据一名业内人士称，中国POX设施所需的前期资本通常比西方同行低30%至50%。
The real source of wealth is human labour combined with technology, thoughtful planning and organisation, not natural resources The cost advantage is real, if nuanced. China’s operating costs are higher than Russia’s, but notably lower than those in North America or South Africa. Russian plants may be slightly cheaper to run, but their set-up and logistics costs are far higher. Chinese POX facilities typically need 30 to 50 per cent less upfront capital than their Western rivals, according to an industry insider.
繁荣背后也有阴暗的一面。中国黄金产量在2016年创下历史新高，达到453.5公吨，但地方政府重产出、轻环保，污染问题日益严重。自2017年起，中国严格实施环境和安全标准，关闭了数千座小型、非法或污染严重的矿山。产量一度下降超过25%，随后稳定在每年约380公吨。重新发展起来的行业更清洁、更高效，竞争力也更强。如今，行业领先企业正积极拓展海外市场，在非洲、中亚、南美洲乃至巴布亚新圭建设工厂。
The boom had a dark side. China hit its all-time high in 2016, mining 453.5 metric tons, but local governments prized output over the environment, and pollution became serious. From 2017, Beijing enforced strict environmental and safety standards and shut down thousands of small, illegal or heavily polluting mines. Output fell by more than 25 per cent at one point before stabilising at around 380 metric tons a year. The industry that emerged is cleaner, more efficient and more competitive. Its leading operators are now expanding aggressively overseas, building plants across Africa, Central Asia, South America and even Papua New Guinea.
POX只是一种工艺路径。中国还在开发多种其他加工技术。作为全球最大的铜、铅、锌等基础金属精炼国，中国每年都能从冶炼副产品中回收数吨黄金，无需经营任何一座专门的金矿。这一数量达到每年80公吨，大致相当于哈萨克斯坦全年的黄金产量。
POX is only one pathway. China is also developing a wide range of other processing technologies. As the world’s largest refiner of base metals such as copper, lead and zinc, it recovers tonnes of gold every year as a by-product of its smelters, without running a single dedicated gold mine. That amounts to 80 metric tons a year, roughly Kazakhstan’s entire annual output.
这也体现了中国在稀土领域的优势 人们普遍误以为这种优势建立在丰富的矿藏之上。事实上，真正的力量来自其完整的工业生态系统。
It also echoes China’s dominance in rare earths. A common misconception is that this rests on rich deposits. In truth, the real strength lies in its industrial ecosystem.
归根结底，中国之所以领先，是因为其规划和组织能力胜过其他国家。真正的财富来源是人力与技术、缜密规划和组织能力的结合，而非自然资源。
In the end, China leads because it has planned and organised better than anyone else. The real source of wealth is human labour combined with technology, thoughtful planning and organisation, not natural resources. Here is the twist.
然而还有一个出人意料的情况。尽管中国自2007年以来一直是全球最大的黄金生产国，但同时也在大规模进口黄金，每年约1000公吨。加上国内产量，中国每年获得的黄金总量约为1400公吨。据认为，其中约80%用于国内消费，中国人民银行则 steadily 增加黄金储备。
Although China has been the top producer since 2007, it has also been importing gold aggressively, about 1,000 metric tons a year. Add domestic output, and China takes in some 1,400 metric tons annually. About 80 per cent is believed to go to domestic consumption, while the People’s Bank of China steadily builds up its reserves.
这种积累只是一个更大谜题的一部分。北京囤积黄金，图谋的并不是黄金的光泽，而是要推动人民币国际化。最好将其理解为一项双重战略：使中国免受西方制裁的影响，同时逐步建立市场对人民币作为全球货币的信任。
That accumulation is just one piece of a much larger puzzle. Beijing is hoarding gold not for the metal’s lustre but to support the internationalisation of the yuan. It is best understood as a dual strategy: insulating China from Western sanctions while gradually building trust in its currency as a global one. By Chow Chung-yan