A large deposit of tungsten ore with a proved reserve of 96,200 tonnes has been verified in east China's Anhui Province, local geologists said Thursday.

The finding in Qimen County is an important one for the country as only 144,000 tonnes of tungsten ore have been found between 2001 and 2007, said Hao Changrong, head of No. 332 Geology Team that prospects ore in the south of Anhui Province.

China's tungsten reserve are mainly in the provinces of Hunan, Jiangxi and Henan, which jointly account for 61.37 percent of the total national reserve.

The deposit in Qimen indicates that more ore could be found in the southern parts of Anhui, Jiangxi's neighbour, Hao said.

China, along with Russia, Canada and the United States, is a major tungsten producer in the world. It holds 40.5 percent of the world's proved reserves.