Top 9 Countries That Are The Largest Gold-Producers In The World Today
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| Top 9 Countries That Are The Largest Gold-Producers In The World Today. Photo KnowInsiders |
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How much gold is mined each year?
Between all of the gold sources in the world, current estimates suggest that roughly 2,500 to 3,000 tons of new gold is mined each year. At present, experts believe that the total amount of above ground gold in the world stands at just over 190,000 tons.
How much gold has been found in the world?
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| Photo Geology pages |
About 244,000 metric tons of gold has been discovered to date (187,000 metric tons historically produced plus current underground reserves of 57,000 metric tons).
Which countries produce gold coins ?
The most popular ones are on this site. Over the centuries, most countries have produced gold coins at some point in their history. And modern bullion coins have been produced by several countries over the past few years, including Britain, Singapore, Mexico, not to mention the states of California and Texas.
Are there still untapped sources of gold?
Over the past two decades, new gold discoveries have slowed down considerably. Throughout the second half of the 20th century, discoveries of new veins with estimated deposits of 10 million troy ounces or more were quite common.
Though new gold veins are still being found, discoveries of large deposits are becoming increasingly rare. As a result, most gold production today is coming from older mines that have already been exploited for decades. In part, this is due to decreasing investment in discovery on the part of mining companies, though a larger factor is the fact that there may not be many large, undiscovered veins left in the world.
It’s also important to remember that the total amount of gold in the Earth’s crust and the total amount that can be feasibly mined are not the same. There are almost certainly massive gold deposits deep beneath the surface of the Earth that are too far down to be detected, let alone extracted.
Similarly, there are some known gold deposits in Antarctica that may never be economical to mine due to the continent’s extreme weather conditions and the challenges presented by thick ice layers.
There is also a considerable amount of gold that cannot be collected profitably scattered throughout the world’s oceans. Much of these underwater deposits are contained within the ocean floor and floating as tiny particles in the seawater itself.
Top 9 Countries That Are The Largest Gold-Producers in The World Today
1. China
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| Photo Caixin Global |
Mine production: 370 metric tonnes (MT)
Gold mining is a global business with operations on every continent, except Antarctica, and gold is extracted from mines of widely varying types and scale.
At a country level, China was the largest producer in the world in 2021 and accounted for around 9 per cent of total global production.
Five largest gold mines by production in China, according to GlobalData’s mining database:
Shaxi Copper Mine
The Shaxi Copper Mine is a underground mine located in Anhui. It is owned by Tongling Nonferrous Metals Group and produced an estimated 730.212 Thousand Ounces of gold in 2020.
Jiaojia Gold Mine
Located in Shandong, the Jiaojia Gold Mine is owned by Shandong Gold Group. The underground mine produced an estimated 231.66 Thousand Ounces of gold in 2020. The mine will operate until 2023.
Dayingezhuang Gold Mine
The Dayingezhuang Gold Mine is located in Shandong. It is owned by Zhaojin Mining Industry and produced an estimated 228.053 Thousand Ounces of gold in 2020.
Sanshandao Gold Mine
The Sanshandao Gold Mine, owned by Shandong Gold Group, is an underground mine located in Shandong. The mine produced an estimated 218.495 Thousand Ounces of gold in 2020. The mine will operate until 2028.
Zaozigou Gold Mine
Owned by Zhaojin Mining Industry, the Zaozigou Gold Mine is located in Gansu. It produced an estimated 207.101 Thousand Ounces of gold in 2020.
2. Australia
Mine production: 330 MT
Gold production in Australia had another high-performing year, reaching 330 MT in 2021, up marginally by 2 MT from the previous year. Recent exploration activity in the Pilbara region of Western Australia has renewed interest and helped increase the country’s consistent gold output.
Australia has 14 of the world’s biggest gold mines, 11 of which are in the state of Western Australia.
This is the most prolific Australian state for the enterprise, where gold mining stands fourth behind iron ore, crude oil and liquified natural gas.
Western Australia was named one of the world’s best mining areas — after Nevada in the US — by Canadian mining companies surveyor, the Fraser Institute.
Which country has the most gold?Australia holds the world's largest gold reserves at 11,000 MT, followed by Russia at 6,800 MT. However, when it comes to central bank gold holdings, the US takes the top spot with 8,133.5 MT valued at US$528 billion. The majority of US central bank reserves are held in “deep storage” in Denver, Fort Knox and West Point. |
3. Russia
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| Photo RT |
Mine production: 300 MT
Eighty per cent of all the gold produced in Europe comes from Russia and more than 50% of Russia’s gold resources are found in the country’s eastern regions and Siberia.
Ever since 1745, when gold was first discovered in Russia’s Ural Mountains, the country has been a bustling centre of mining activity for the “yellow metal”. It is currently the third-largest producer of gold in the world, producing 295 tonnes in 2018, while holding estimated reserves of 5,500 tonnes.
This vast reserve of Russian gold has also given up a collection of huge nuggets. First, there was the 6.35kg “Devil’s Ear Nugget” unearthed in 2014. Next came a bigger one, the 9.98kg boulder dug up in the Khabarovsk Territory of remote eastern Russia in 2017. But the biggest of all was the 36.2kg giant called “The Great Triangle Nugget” (with a fine gold content of 32.94kg). Discovered by prospector Nikofor Syutkin in the Miass region of the southern Urals in 1842, it is supposed to be the largest gold nugget in Russia and second-largest in the world.
In 2021, Russia was once again the third largest producer of gold. In 2021, Russia produced an estimated 9.87 million ounces of gold, making it the world's third-largest gold producer. Significant gold mines include PJSC Polyus' Olimpiada, Kinross Gold Corp.'s Kupol and Nord Gold PLC's Gross.
4. United States
Mine production: 180 MT
US gold production has been dropping over the past few years. In 2021, the US produced 180 MT, down by 20 MT from the previous year. Most gold in the country was produced at more than 40 lode mines, several large placer mines in Alaska and a number of smaller placer mines in the Western US. The top 26 operations in the country were responsible for 98 percent of American gold output.
An assessment of US gold resources has revealed that the country has approximately 33,000 MT of gold in identified and undiscovered resources. Additionally, close to one-quarter of the gold in undiscovered resources can be found in porphyry copper deposits. Gold reserves in the US are estimated at 3,000 MT.
| Where does the gold come from in US? Currently, most US-produced gold is extracted from Nevada’s large open-pit heap-leach mines. The remaining is generated from several lode mines and placer mines in Alaska and the western states. |
5. Canada
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| Photo Mining |
Mine production: 170 MT
In the Eastern Townships of Quebec, close to the Rivière Chaudière, gold was first found in Canada in the 1820s. Ontario, notably the Red Lake gold mine in the province, provides the majority of the gold in Canada. Nine provinces and territories, including the westernmost British Columbia, the northernmost Nunavut, and the easternmost island of Newfoundland, all have active gold mines. Canada is currently the fifth-largest producer of gold in the world, and gold explorations are being conducted in all provinces and territories.
Along with government bonds, gold is one of the most important reserve assets globally since it bears no credit or counterparty concerns and functions as a source of trust in a nation and all economic circumstances.
6. Ghana
Mine production: 130 MT
Ghana has made it into the top six position as the world’s gold producer with 138.7 tonnes reserves. The west African country exports 37% of its minerals with gold making up about 90% of the output.
Mining is important in the performance of Ghana’s economy since the industry went from being state-owned in the 80s to being privately owned, attracting foreign direct investment. The mining industry is also the largest tax-paying sector contributing to GDP and job creation.
Ghana surpassed South Africa which has slipped to the 11th place globally. This is likely as a result of South African mining giants like AngloGold Ashanti and Gold Fields looking to Ghana for more affordable production costs
7. Brazil
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| Photo raregoldnuggets |
Mine production: 107.0 MT
Brazil has gained some ground from the 10th position to being the 7th largest world gold producer with 107 tonnes of reserves. The three most important mineral commodities produced in Brazil, by economic value, are gold, iron ore and copper.
Brazil has approximately 20% of the total gold available in the world. However, its gold reserves are equivalent to 3.4% of the world total.9 And about 28% of gold exports from Brazil are from illegal mines.
8. Uzbekistan
Mine production: 101.6 MT
Uzbekistan’s Muruntau gold mine is one of the largest open-pit mines in the world. Uzbekistan has been producing from old mines for quite some time, and has not seen much exploration investment.
This central Asian country is the eighth largest gold producer and has 101.6 tonnes of reserves. Uzbekistan has one of the world’s largest reserves in the one-pit goldfield, the Muruntau Gold Mine, which is estimated to house more than 4000 tonnes of the precious metal.
| Uzbekistan aims to become one of the world’s largest gold producers within the next several years that will be achieved through more development of its domestic gold regions. According to latest data, published by the Uzbek State Committee for Geology, the country currently has 63 large-scale gold mining fields, which have total reserves of more than 2,500 tonnes of gold, and probable reserves (in categories C1 and C2) of 5,990 tonnes. Of these, at least nine are currently in the developmental stage and there is a possibility the number of such fields will increase already shortly. |
9. Mexico
Mine production: 101.6 MT
Mexico is the ninth largest world gold producer and has 101.6 tonnes in reserves. This has shrunk compared to the amount 131 tonnes it had in gold reserves in 2015, but considering that in 2008 the country only had 50.8 tonnes Mexico has made great strides in its gold production.
It’s also known to have low regulation costs for exploration, making it an attractive gold mining destination.
The country generally ships large amounts of mining minerals and ores that had a trade balance in excess of $12.2 billion in 2020, exports totalled $15.6 billion. Mexico’s total mineral ores exports have been on a steady 5.8% incline since 2017.1
How Long Before Gold Runs Out and What Happens Then?Based on known reserves, estimates suggest that gold mining could reach the point of being economically unsustainable by 2050, though new vein discoveries will likely push that date back somewhat. New technologies may also make it possible to extract some known reserves that aren’t currently economical to access, but it is unlikely that large-scale gold mining will continue past 2075 without either huge mining technology advances or the discovery of currently unknown massive gold deposits. One factor gold has going for it, compared to other non-renewable resources like oil, is that can be recycled. In other words, “running out of gold” isn’t really an adequate description of what happens when gold mines stop producing. Rather, the gold industry will transition from mining to recycling, allowing the global gold supply to be recirculated. Thanks to the large amount of gold used in electronics that are widely viewed as disposable, efforts to recycle gold extracted from electronic waste are already well under way. Recycling will have to become considerably more efficient to meet the needs of the global gold market, as a huge amount of gold still ends up in landfills each year. One aspect of the depletion of gold mines that is very difficult to predict is how it will affect the spot price of gold. If demand continues to rise while available supply stagnates, basic economic theory of supply and demand would suggest that prices will rise substantially in the future. Fortunately, gold hasn’t run out yet and is widely considered a wise investment option for any investor. |
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