Have you ever thought of Top Gold Producing Countries per year, Flags, and Countries ranked by Gold Production?
For a very long time now, since 1880 precisely, South Africa has been the World’s largest gold-producing country. The Gold from South Africa sums up 22% of the total amount of Gold accounted for since the beginning of it all.
Production of Gold by South Africa in 1970 alone accounted for 70% of the world’s supply at the time. To date, 244,000 metric tonnes of gold have been discovered and approximately 198,000 tonnes of it have been mined throughout history. Deducing from this, barely 45,000 tonnes of gold are left unmined.
This accounts for the ever-increasing price of this rare element. It gets more scarce by the day. Even with this, the world never stops exploring its gold mines. Hence, if no new reserves are discovered, gold might become extremely scarce and the price will just keep soaring.
It is indeed a priceless gem. It might interest you to know the countries that top the list of the World’s highest Gold producers yearly. If it does, you will get to know about it here.
Like I mentioned earlier, South Africa was the world’s largest gold producer until 2007. This was when China took over (With 276 tonnes). In 2017, China became the overall World-leading gold mining country. It was followed by Australia, Russia, the United States of America, Canada, and Peru.
South Africa, which dominated the top spot for almost a century, declined to 7th place. Asides from these seven, there are other major gold-producing countries which include; Ghana, Burkina Faso, Uzbekistan, Indonesia, and Mali. This is arranged in no particular order.
Now, let’s see the top 10 list of the Top Gold-producing countries and how many tonnes have been produced by these countries. The number of tonnes sums up the amount since the inception.
World’s Largest Gold-producing Countries & Countries Ranked by Gold Production.
China (368.3 tonnes)
China accounts for approximately 11% of global gold production with a total output of 383 tonnes of gold. Unfortunately, the production fell to 368 tonnes in 2020. However, this did not compromise their position as the top producing country.
China remained at the top spot even after experiencing the fourth consecutive decline in production. One of the reasons for this backwardness is the stricter environmental factors imposed by the Chinese government. Cyanide which was formerly used at gold mines has been controlled.
Russia (331.1 tonnes)
Russia dominates gold production in Europe at the moment. The largest amount of gold produced comes from Russia and the number has been on the rise since 2010. Russia rose to the second on the top Gold-producing countries in 2019 after overtaking Australia.
Russia, which is the second on this list, is also its largest consumer. The Russian government purchases over two-thirds of all gold produced locally. The remaining one-third is exported to countries that want to purchase.
Australia (327.8 tonnes)
Australia accounts for 10% of the world’s gold production. For the past eight years, the country’s production of gold has experienced an uptrend. The Minerals industry produces over half of Australia’s total exports.
This is unmatched by any country. If it continues at this rate, Australia might get to take back its position as the world’s second top Gold-producing country.
United States (190.2 tonnes)
Good production in the United States was on the increase until it began to experience a downtrend in 2019. The production fell below 200 tonnes that year. However, a city in the country, Nevada still maintains a high gold production rate. Nevada accounts for 80% of the gold produced in Canada.
Canada (170.6 tonnes)
For over four years, Canada has maintained the fifth spot of top Gold-producing countries. It has produced a total of 170.6 tonnes of gold. This is approximately 5% of the world’s gold production. Thanks to the country’s top gold mine, Canadian Malartic, which produced over 16 tonnes of gold in 2019.
Ghana (138.7 tonnes)
Making it to the sixth on the world’s list but maintaining the first position since it beat South Africa in 2019, Ghana has an average gold production of 138.7 tonnes. Now, it is regarded as Africa’s largest gold producer.
Apart from Ghana’s gold mine, it is also known for having many reserves for mineral resources. The soil of Ghana is quite rich. South Africa lost major investors like AngloGold Ashanti and Goldfields to Ghana in 2019 when their position was compromised.
Brazil (107.1 tonnes)
Next on the list is Brazil after moving up from the tenth spot on this list in 2019. The gold production output started increasing in 2017 and did so for two consecutive years before getting to this position. Not all of the production in Brazil is accounted for as illegal mining activity has also been on the rise for over six years in the heart of the Amazon rainforest.
Uzbekistan (101.6 tonnes)
Now when we are to talk about a significant increase, then it should be that of Uzbekistan, whose production output increased from 94.6 tonnes to 101.6 tonnes, all within a year. Many geologists believe that the gold reserve in Uzbekistan could be the biggest in the world.
Mexico (101.6 tonnes)
Over the years, Mexico has been a competitive source of gold. It has had ups and downs but has struggled to remain in the game. Glad production in Mexico fell for five consecutive years but it is still occupying the 9th position in the world.
The low cost of mining regulation makes Mexico a perfect place for mining activities. Perhaps, this is one of the reasons it has always been the investors’ choice.
Indonesia (101 tonnes)
Grasberg, Indonesia is the second-largest gold mine and the highest in the world. It is operated by PT Freeport Indonesia and has over 20,000 workers. Due to this, the production rate of the country has been on a ride over the years.
Conclusion
This is only a list of the top 10 Gold-producing countries in the world. Other countries follow behind them. They include; Peru, Kazakhstan, Sudan, Papua New Guinea, Mali, Argentina, and other countries of the world.
Every country accounts for a percent of the total gold production. Other countries not mentioned here account for around 23% of the total gold production.
Now, enough talk about gold production. Why don’t we talk about the reserves? A reserve is simply how much of a mineral has not been mined yet. As you should know, the reserve of every gold-producing country will diminish as time goes on, unless another one is discovered.
The country with the highest Gold reserve in Australia, having a total reserve of 9,800 tonnes of gold. Australia comes third on the list of top Gold-producing countries but has the largest reserve. It is safe to say the country might stay in this game for a longer time.
The next on the list is South Africa, with a gold reserve of 6,000 tonnes. South Africa, which was the top Gold-producing country for a very long time, drastically dropped and even left the list of the top 10. Could it even be that the country purposely slowed down production to maintain its reserve? Well, nothing is impossible.
After South Africa, comes Russia. Russia has a total gold reserve of 5,300 tonnes. Russia however, maintains the position of the 2nd top Gold-producing country after China. If the country should keep up with this rate, it may be beating China soon.
The fourth on the list is the United States of America, having a gold reserve of 3,000 tonnes. The United States does not have a gold consumption rate as the Chinese, so they also stand a good chance of getting to the top soon.
I will not go further than this. The list is endless. Just as there is a list for the Top Gold-producing countries, there is also one for the reserves and that’s exactly what I’ve just given you. Just for a recap. The World’s top Gold-producing countries in order are;
China
Russia
Australia
United States
Canada
Ghana
Brazil
Uzbekistan
Mexico
Indonesia
Just a reminder that these are not the only Gold-producing countries in the world. There are many others, but they are not mentioned here because their production rate is quite low compared to these countries.
