(Yicai Global) Sept. 6 -- Chinese scientists have extracted 236-degrees Celsius hot dry rock (HDR) 3,705 meters deep in the Gonghe basin in China's northwestern Qinghai province, said state-owned broadcaster CCTV  through its official Wechat account on Sept. 6.

This marks the first time that hot dry rock mass has been drilled out in China, and a significant breakthrough for the country's HDR exploration.

Geothermal energy has become a leader in new energy, and HDR is one of the most valuable and potential clean energy sources, said the report citing experts in the field.

China holds 856 trillion tons of hot dry rock, which is about the same as the US, said a spokesperson for the Geological Survey of China's Ministry of Land and Resources. Some 2 percent of the reserves, or 17 trillion tons, are considered to be recoverable.

The nation's southeast coastal areas, Songliao Plain in the northeast, North China Plain and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau region are key potential areas for exploration and development. The southern plateau, in particular, is said to hold resources of the largest in volume and highest in temperature.

HDR, buried 3,000 to 10,000 meters underground, is a dense, impermeable, high temperature rock without water or steam. Through new geothermal energy, which operates at temperatures above 150 degrees Celsius, it can be widely used in power generation, heating and oil exploitation.

Energy contained in HDR 3,000 to 10,000 meters under the earth's surface globally is considered recoverable, and equivalent to tens of times the energy of the world's oil, natural gas and coal combined, preliminary calculations suggest.