New occasions are including extra gasoline to gold’s hearth in 2025, most importantly Donald Trump’s return as president of the US. Since he took workplace, his aggressive commerce techniques have despatched ripples by the worldwide financial system and pushed traders to gold as they search safe-haven belongings.
As uncertainty grips the markets, rising gold costs will profit gold producers and the international locations they function in. So, which international locations produce essentially the most gold?
Right here, the Investing Information Community outlines the highest gold producers by nation in 2024 utilizing the newest manufacturing numbers from the US Geological Survey. The group notes that international gold manufacturing totaled 3,300 metric tons (MT) final 12 months, up 50 metric tons from 2023. Knowledge for mining manufacturing was sourced from Mining Knowledge On-line.
1. China
Gold manufacturing: 380 metric tons
China was the world’s high gold mining nation in 2024 with output of 380 metric tons. Whereas China’s gold output peaked at 455 MT in 2016, it hasn’t dipped under 300 MT in additional than a decade. This constant manufacturing continues to make sure China’s standing because the world’s high gold producer.
China’s gold mining business is dominated by state-owned operators. A few of the largest corporations embody Zijin Mining Group (HKEX:2899), which owns the Shanxi mine, the most important gold mine within the Shanxi province. In keeping with the latest information from MDO, in 2023 the mine produced 125,000 ounces of gold.
One other of China’s largest corporations is China Gold Worldwide Assets (TSX:CGG,HKEX:2099), which owns a 96.5 % stake within the Chang Shan Hao gold mine positioned in Internal Mongolia. One in all China’s largest gold mines, it’s estimated that manufacturing in 2024 was between 106,097 and 112,528 ounces.
China additionally hosts main gold-smelting operations. Its Belt and Street Initiative has resulted in Chinese language corporations exploring and growing websites elsewhere in Asia and Africa, subsequently sending uncooked assets again to China for refinement.
Along with being the highest producer of gold in 2024, China was one of many largest shoppers of gold. In keeping with information from the World Gold Council, shoppers bought 857.1 metric tons all year long. In the meantime, China’s central financial institution was among the many largest consumers of valuable steel in 2024, including 44 metric tons of gold to its coffers throughout the 12 months to carry its official gold holdings to 2,280 metric tons.
2. Russia
Gold manufacturing: 310 metric tons
Gold manufacturing from Russia got here in at 310 metric tons in 2024, the identical because the prior 12 months. The nation’s output has risen pretty considerably since 2017, when it produced solely 255 MT of gold.
The US Geological Survey states that Russian gold reserves stand at 12,000 MT, making it the second-largest nation for reserves after Australia. Nevertheless, regardless of excessive manufacturing and reserves, Russian gold has had issues reaching world markets for the reason that nation invaded Ukraine in February 2022. In response, Russian operators have sought out various markets, notably the BRICS nations and different Asian international locations like Kazakhstan.
Russia has a number of giant gold mines, however none are extra prolific than Polyus’ (MCX:PLZL) Olimpiada mine within the Ksasnoyarsk Krai area of Siberia. In keeping with the corporate’s most up-to-date information, the mine produced 1.5 million ounces in 2023.
3. Australia
Gold manufacturing: 290 metric tons
Australian gold manufacturing barely decreased in 2024 to 290 metric tons, down from 296 metric tons the earlier 12 months.
Australia is residence to a number of giant gold mines, together with Newmont’s (TSX:NGT,NYSE:NEM) Boddington and Cadia Valley, which produced 745,000 ounces and 597,000 respectively in 2023. It additionally hosts the Tropicana mine, a three way partnership between AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) and Regis Assets (ASX:RRL,OTC Pink:RGRNF) that produced 437,000 ounces of gold.
Australia is without doubt one of the high gold producers and has one of many largest reserves, with an estimated 12,000 metric tons. These reserves, together with a number of different high producers, will make sure the nation stays within the high 10 for years to return.
4. Canada
Gold manufacturing: 200 metric tons
In 2024, gold manufacturing in Canada totaled 200 metric tons, marking a slight uptick from the 198 metric tons recorded in 2023.
Ontario and Québec are the most important gold-producing provinces within the nation; collectively, they characterize greater than 70 % of Canada’s gold output. The Canadian authorities states that gold is the nation’s Most worthy mined commodity, with home exports surging 35 % in 2023 to achieve a complete of C$34.1 billion.
Canada has quite a lot of very giant gold mines, the most important of which is Agnico Eagle’s (TSX:AEM,NYSE:AEM) Canadian Malartic Complicated in Québec. The mine produced 689,000 ounces of gold in 2023 and hosts confirmed and possible reserves of seven.92 million ounces.
Different notable gold mines in Canada embody Agnico Eagle’s Detour Lake in Ontario, which produced 677,000 ounces in 2023, and its Meadowbank Complicated in Nunavut, which produced 432,000 ounces.
5. United States
Gold manufacturing: 160 metric tons
The US produced 160 metric tons of gold in 2024, a drop from 170 metric tons produced in 2023. This continues a pattern of manufacturing declines that began in 2017, when the US produced 237 MT of gold.
In keeping with the US Geological Survey, the highest state for manufacturing of the yellow steel was Nevada, which accounted for 70 % of complete home manufacturing, adopted by Alaska with 16 %. The highest 26 operations within the nation had been answerable for 97 % of American gold output in 2024.
An evaluation of US gold assets reveals that the nation has roughly 33,000 MT of gold in recognized and undiscovered assets. The US Geological Survey notes that near 1 / 4 of the gold in undiscovered assets could be present in copper porphyry deposits. Gold reserves within the US are estimated at 3,000 MT.
The biggest gold mining belongings in the USA are all owned by Nevada Gold Mines, a three way partnership between Barrick Gold (TSX:ABX,NYSE:GOLD) and Newmont, and encompass Turquoise Ridge, the Cortez Complicated and the Carlin Complicated. Between them, the mines produced 2.82 million ounces of gold in 2023.
6. Kazakhstan
Gold manufacturing: 130 metric tons
Kazakhstan’s 2024 gold output of 130 metric tons represents continued development within the nation’s manufacturing of the yellow steel, up from simply 69 MT produced in 2016. Kazakhstan’s largest gold-mining operation is the Altyntau Kokshetau mine, which is owned by mining large Glencore (LSE:GLEN,OTC Pink:GLCNF).
In its 2024 manufacturing report, Glencore said that it produced 603,000 ounces of gold throughout all its Kazakhstan belongings, the vast majority of which got here from the Altyntau Kokshetau mine.
In August 2023, Anglo-Russian firm SolidCore Assets, previously Polymetal Worldwide, one among Kazakhstan’s largest producers, delisted from the London Inventory Alternate in a transfer geared at severing the hyperlink between its Kazakhstani and Russian subsidiaries; it did so in response to tensions ensuing from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It stays listed on the Astana Worldwide Alternate in Kazakhstan.
In its FY2024 monetary outcomes, launched on January 29, the corporate reported it produced 320,000 ounces of gold, a 1 % enhance over 2023. Its largest asset within the nation is the Kyzyl mine, which hosts 2.2 million ounces of gold.
6. Mexico
Gold Manufacturing: 130 metric tons
Mexico’s gold manufacturing in 2024 got here in at 130 metric tons, a marginal enhance from 127 metric tons the earlier 12 months.
Mexico has a protracted historical past of gold mining; in actual fact, the Spanish colonization of Central America within the early and mid-1500s was largely concentrating on gold and silver. As we speak, Mexico is among the many international leaders in gold manufacturing. Valuable metals account for 50 % of the nation’s complete steel output.
Whereas a lot of Mexico’s gold mining is managed by international entities, one of many largest operations, the Herradura mine, is owned by Mexico Metropolis-based Fresnillo (LSE:FRES,OTC Pink:FNLPF). Herradura produced 360,598 ounces of gold, or about 10.08 MT, within the firm’s 2024 fiscal 12 months. The mine represents greater than half of Fresnillo’s gold manufacturing and generates a couple of quarter of the corporate’s complete adjusted income.
6. Ghana
Gold manufacturing: 130 metric tons
West Africa has a wealthy historical past of gold manufacturing courting again a whole bunch of years. Ghana has been profiting from its assets and has seen regular manufacturing will increase over time going from 88 metric tons in 2015 to 130 metric tons in 2024.
Gold has develop into an essential financial driver for the nation. In 2023, gold exports accounted for 62.1 % of Ghana’s complete exports, including US$580 million to the nation’s gross home product.
The nation is residence to a number of extremely productive gold mines, together with Newmont’s Ahafo South mine, which produced 581,000 ounces of gold in 2023, and Gold Fields (NYSE:GFI) Tarkwa mine with 551,000 ounces.
9. Uzbekistan
Gold Manufacturing: 120 metric tons
Uzbekistan produced 120 metric tons of gold in 2024, up from the 100 metric tons produced in 2023.
Operated by Navoi Mining and Metallurgical Firm, Uzbekistan’s Muruntau gold mine is without doubt one of the largest gold operations on the earth. Large deposits of gold had been first found on the web site within the Fifties, and it nonetheless holds among the largest reserves on the earth at 4,500 MT. The invention marked the start of gold mining in Uzbekistan. The mine produces greater than 2.5 million ounces of gold per 12 months and is predicted to proceed working into the 2030s.
Following the autumn of the Soviet Union in 1991, mining for the yellow steel fell to its all-time lows within the mid-Nineties. In 2019, the nation’s authorities introduced renewed funding into growth and exploration. Whereas that hasn’t but been mirrored in its annual manufacturing, upgrades at Muruntau scheduled to be accomplished in 2026 are anticipated to extend its output from 38.5 million to 50 million metric tons of ore per 12 months.
10. Indonesia
Gold Manufacturing: 100 metric tons
The mining business is one among Indonesia’s most essential sectors, and the nation is among the many world’s high producers of nickel, copper and gold. In 2024, Indonesia produced an estimated 100 metric tons of gold, on par with its 2023 manufacturing totals.
Indonesia is residence to a number of vital gold operations. The biggest of those is the Grasberg Mining District, a three way partnership between Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) and Indonesia’s state-owned Indonesia Asahan Aluminium. In 2024, the realm produced 1.86 million ounces of gold, a lower from the 1.98 million ounces produced in 2023, and it’s estimated to have 23.9 million ounces in mineral reserves.
10. South Africa
Gold Manufacturing: 100 metric tons
In 2024, South African gold manufacturing got here in at 100 metric tons, a small decline from 2023’s 104 metric tons. An estimated one-tenth of world gold reserves are positioned within the nation, and its Witwatersrand Basin is without doubt one of the largest gold assets on the earth.
Among the many largest mining belongings within the nation are Gold Fields’ South Deep mine, which produced 322,000 ounces in 2023, and Sibanye-Stillwater’s (NYSE:SBSW,JSE:SSW) Driefontein mine, which produced 233,000 ounces.
South Africa has been a high gold producer for many years, however between 1980 and 2018 the nation’s gold output fell by 85 %. Lately, South Africa has been the positioning of conflicts between the Affiliation of Mineworkers and Building Union (AMCU) and gold producers within the space. The AMCU has held many protests and strikes at a number of gold and platinum mines within the hopes of garnering extra wages and stopping any mergers that would trigger job losses.
Moreover, in 2024 South Africa blockaded entry to the Buffelsfontein gold mine west of Johannesburg, slicing off meals and water in an try to pressure a whole bunch of miners to the floor.
Unlawful mining accounts for 10 % of South Africa’s complete gold output. Greater than 30,000 unlawful miners function out of 6,000 deserted mine shafts within the nation.
10. Peru
Gold manufacturing: 100 metric tons
Peru is a mineral-rich nation, recognized for deposits of copper, silver and gold. In 2024, Peru’s gold manufacturing was flat with the prior 12 months’s, with 100 metric tons being extracted.
Whereas Peru’s gold mines could not produce as a lot gold as some others on this checklist, some are nonetheless vital producers, together with Newmont’s Yanacocha mine, which produced 276,000 ounces in 2023, and Pan American Silver’s (TSX:PAAS,NYSE:PAAS) Shahuindo mine, which produced 140,000 ounces.
Like South Africa, Peru has spent years working to crack down on unlawful mining. Whereas it has had some success, unlawful gold operations account for roughly half of all gold produced in Peru. These operations have additionally wreaked havoc on huge swaths of the Amazon, as mercury used within the manufacturing of gold leaches into groundwater and soil.
There are additionally authorized artisanal miners who oppose latest authorities motion to control unlawful operations. This culminated in a protest by 1000’s of miners who blockaded the middle of Lima in November. Opponents of the brand new registry say it permits unlawful miners to function with impunity and exempts them from prison legal responsibility.
FAQs for gold investing
How is gold mined?
Gold is mined by a number of completely different strategies, together with: placer mining, hard-rock mining, by-product mining and by processing gold ore. The tactic a gold-mining firm chooses relies upon upon the scale, location, geological mannequin and metallurgy of the deposit in query.
What’s the manufacturing value of gold?
The price of producing gold varies from one miner to the following, and is reported because the all-in sustaining value (AISC). AISC was first launched in 2013 by the World Gold Council. Deposit sort, vitality prices and inflation are the components which have the most important influence on AISC. The common AISC for the whole gold business is calculated by averaging the manufacturing prices of the most important gold producers. The common AISC fluctuates with adjustments in vitality prices and inflation.
Which nation is the most important proprietor of gold?
The nation with the largest central financial institution gold reserves is the US, which had 8,133.5 metric tons as of Might 2024. Most US central financial institution gold is held in deep storage in Denver, Fort Knox and West Level.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Dean Belder, at present maintain no direct funding curiosity in any firm talked about on this article.
