Jinguashi Geological Park (Benshan Mine) Introduction
Benshan Mine is an important gold mining area in Jinguashi. In the 19th year of the Guangxu era (1893), gold panners from Keelung discovered the small gold nugget outcrop at Jiu Fen while navigating upstream from Houtong. In May of the following year, the gold vein outcrop of the large gold nugget was discovered. The name "Jinguashi" (literally "gold nugget stone") comes from the shape of the exposed rock resembling a gold nugget. The vertical distribution of the Benshan vein extends from the peak of the large gold nugget at an elevation of 600 meters down to 130 meters below sea level, without termination. The gold content is uniformly distributed throughout the vein, with the widest sections reaching over 100 meters, and some veins extending over 2 kilometers in length, while shorter ones are generally several hundred meters long. This makes Benshan Mine one of the most significant gold deposits in Jinguashi. In addition to abundant gold, arsenic copper ore was discovered in April 1904 at the San Keng Mine in Benshan. The peak of Jinguashi originally stood at 660 meters above sea level, but after a century of mining, it has been lowered by 106 meters to roughly 500 meters above sea level, equal to the San Keng area. Due to open-pit mining, the geology is now exposed very clearly, transforming it into a ready-made outdoor geological classroom.
