The UNESCO World Heritage Committee unanimously decided Saturday to register the Sado Island Gold Mines in central Japan as a World Cultural Heritage site.
The site, which was once the world's largest gold mine complex, was approved for inscription on the heritage list at a committee meeting in New Delhi.
In June, the International Council on Monuments and Sites, which advises the UNESCO committee, made a recommendation seeking additional information on the gold mines on Sado Island in Niigata Prefecture.