Machinery used to punch iron bars into the tunnel walls after they have been dynamited for gold ore. Last year the Dayingezhuang mine, one of half a dozen around the gold capital of Zhaoyuan run by the Hong Kong-listed Zhaojin Mining Industry Company, turned out 78,000 ounces of gold. This year the company expects to produce 80,000 ounces. Ton by ton and ounce by ounce, miners at this pit, and thousands around the country, have helped turn China into the world's largest gold producer.