New Taipei Gold Museum's gold brick worth over NT$700 million

New Taipei, Aug. 17 (CNA) The Gold Museum said Saturday that its 220-kilogram gold brick has risen in value to more than NT$700 million (US$23.3 million), making it the institution's top exhibit and a key draw for visitors.

According to the museum, which is located in New Taipei's Ruifang District, the bullion bar has been on loan from the Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan) since 2004, when its market value was about NT$115 million.

Over the past 21 years, surging gold prices have pushed its value to around NT$718 million.

The large ingot is secured with round-the-clock monitoring, including security guards and digital surveillance, and is enclosed in bulletproof glass.

Insurance is purchased every year, with premiums climbing in line with international gold prices, the museum added, though it said it could not disclose the exact cost of coverage for security and contractual reasons.

About 180,000 people -- mostly Taiwanese -- visited the museum from January through July this year, according to the museum.

The brick's protective case has small openings on either side that allow people to touch the gold surface.

Museum director Lin Wen-chung (林文中) told CNA that Jinguashi and Jiufen, two neighboring mountain towns in what is now New Taipei's Ruifang District, were once known as the best gold mining area in East Asia.

He noted that the brick was was once recognized by Guinness World Records as the world's largest gold brick, but that record was broken in 2005 by a 250-kilogram brick from the Toi Gold Mine in Izu City, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan.