Global Slice 🌍: Gold

Contents

Notes

Ownership graphic

https://visual.ly/community/Infographics/economy/who-owns-world-gold . Very good graphic:

[ The below is from 10 minerals.docx ]

Gold

50,000 tonnes, ac-cording to the US Geological Survey.

57,000 tonnes ac-cording to the De-partment of mines of Government of Western Australia

Top 5 countries with the largest reserves:

Australia 9,500 tonnes (17%)
Russia 5,300 tonnes
South Africa 3,200 tonnes
US 3,000 tonnes
Indonesia 2,600 tonnes 3,463.7 1. China – 383.2 tonnes
For many years, China has been the top pro-ducing nation, accounting for 11 percent of global mine production. However, production fell from nearly 400 tonnes last year, repre-senting the third consecutive year of declines. The downtrend is largely due to tighter envi-ronmental policies imposed by the govern-ment. For example, stricter control over the use of cyanide at gold mines forced several operations to cut back production.

2. Russia – 329.5 tonnes
A massive 83 percent of European gold comes from Russia, which has been increasing its production every year since 2010. Russia took the lead over Australia to become the world’s second largest producer – mining 50 tonnes more in 2019 than the year prior. Who is the largest buyer of Russian gold? The Russian government, of course, which purchases around two-thirds of all gold produced local-ly.

3. Australia – 325.1 tonnes
Australia has posted seven consecutive years of increases in production, up by 4 percent in 2019. The minerals industry produces over half of Australia’s total exports and generates about 8 percent of GDP. Higher production at several mines and the ramp of projects such as Mount Morgans and Cadia Valley contrib-uted to increased production.

4. United States – 200.2 tonnes
American gold output fell by 11 percent in 2019, ending five consecutive years of growth. Twelve states produced the gold, worth about $8.9 billion and accounting for 6.1 percent of the global total. Around 78 percent of gold produced in the U.S. is from Nevada. If the state was considered a country, it would be number six on this list with 173.6 tonnes mined in 2019.

5. Canada – 182.9 tonnes
Canada has held the number five spot for three years now, even with a slight decrease in output in 2019. New projects in Nunavat, Yukon and Quebec are expected to support stronger output in 2020. Canada’s gold mine production is estimated to grow by a com-pound annual growth rate of 2.7 percent from 2019 to 2023 to reach 7.6 million ounces.

6. Peru – 143.3 tonnes
Gold output fell for a fourth consecutive year in Peru largely due to crackdowns on illegal mining operations in the La Pampa region and lower grades at existing projects. Mining is a significant portion of Peru’s economy and accounts for over 28 percent of the region’s total output.

7. Ghana – 142.4 tonnes
Ghana is Africa’s largest producer of gold, beating out South Africa for the top spot in 2019, and is also known for its reserves of various industrial minerals. Industry majors such as AngloGold Ashanti and Gold Fields have shifted their focus from South Africa to Ghana where deposits are cheaper and easier to mine. The West African nation has around 1,000 metric tons of reserves and moved up to number seven on the list from 10 last year.

8. South Africa – 118.2 tonnes
Once the top gold-producer in the world by a wide margin, South Africa’s gold mines have been slowing every year since 2008, with the exception of 2013 when production rose by a few tonnes. The nation is struggling with ris-ing costs for electricity and labor, with many mines closing due to unprofitability. South Africa is, however, still home to the world’s deepest gold mine, the Mponeng mine, ex-tending 2.5 miles underground.

9. Mexico – 111.4 tonnes
Although production fell for a fourth consecu-tive year, Mexico remains a competitive gold source. Output has risen from just 50.8 tonnes in 2008 to over 130 tonnes in 2017, one of the largest increases in a nine-year span. Mexico is an attractive place for mining due to a rela-tively low cost of regulation. The 2019 slow-down is attributed to disputes between local communities and contractors.

10. Brazil – 106.9 tonnes
Brazil produced 10 more tonnes of gold than the year prior to make the number 10 spot on this list. Illegal mining activity has risen sharply in the last five years in the heart of the Amazon rainforest. President Jair Bolso-naro has pushed the country to develop the Amazon economically and tap its mineral riches. The below-ground stock of gold reserves is currently estimated to be around 50,000 tonnes, according to the US Geological Survey.

To put that in perspective, around 190,000 tonnes of gold has been mined in total, although estimates do vary.

Based on these rough figures, there is about 20% still to be mined. But this is a moving target.

New technologies may make it possible to extract some known reserves that aren’t currently economical to access.

While gold in the ground may be hard to quantify, it’s not the only source. There is also gold on the ocean floor, Antarctica and the moon. However, the costs associated with mining it and transporting it are sig-nificantly higher than the value of the gold. The World Gold Council

Top five countries with the largest gold mine reserves in the world

https://www.usfunds.com/investor-library/frank-talk-a-ceo-blog-by-frank-holmes/top-10-gold-producing-countries/#.YGMdpEhKhTY

Gold Demand

Total gold demand in 2017 was 4,071.66 tonnes. Divided equally between all 7.5 billion people, this would be 0.54 grams per person; divided between 10 million, 0.41 grams; divided between 12.5 billion, 0.33 grams.

The main categories of demand are listed and charted below.

Usage typeSubcategoryTonnes
Jewellery          2,135.52
TechnologyElectronics             265.34
Other Industrial               50.65
Dentistry               16.84
InvestmentBar & Coin: Physical Bar Demand             770.94
Bar & Coin: Official Coin             186.87
Bar & Coin: Medals/Imitation Coin               71.34
ETFs & similar products             202.75
Central banks & other institutions             371.40
Gold demand for main usage types, 2017, tonnes.
From https://www.gold.org/goldhub/research/gold-demand-trends/gold-demand-trends-full-year-2017 :
GDT Statistics XLSX.
Data as above, but charted.

Gold Production

Total gold mined in 2017 was 3,359,775 kilograms. Divided equally between all 7.5 billion people, this would be 0.45 grams per person; divided between 10 million, 0.34 grams; divided between 12.5 billion, 0.27 grams.

The top 10 producing countries are listed and charted below. Click the “â–¶Remaining countries” legend under the chart to see the others.

CountryKilograms mined
China426,142
Australia292,022
Russia270,300
USA236,986
Canada171,111
Peru151,964
South Africa136,833
Ghana133,303
Mexico126,820
Sudan107,300
Gold production for 2017, top 10 countries, kg.
From https://www2.bgs.ac.uk/mineralsuk/statistics/wms.cfc?method=searchWMS :
Data type=”Production”, Commodity=”gold, mine”, Dates=2017, Countries=”All countries”.
Data as above, but charted.
â–¶Remaining countries
Indonesia99,030
Uzbekistan89,900
Kazakhstan85,339
Brazil79,717
Papua New Guinea65,246
Argentina60,956
Mali51,500
Guinea46,845
Burkina Faso46,436
Tanzania43,489
Colombia43,158
Chile37,911
Congo, Democratic Republic37,100
Dominican Republic35,242
Kyrgyzstan29,100
Bolivia28,726
Suriname25,844
Ivory Coast25,200
Zimbabwe23,929
Turkey23,090
Philippines22,749
Guyana20,334
Togo20,000
Mongolia19,849
Nigeria19,000
Egypt16,941
Senegal11,700
Saudi Arabia10,333
New Zealand10,288
Korea, Dem. P.R. of10,000
Finland9,102
Mauritania9,096
Rwanda8,800
Bulgaria8,682
Venezuela8,100
France (French Guiana)8,000
Sweden7,858
Namibia7,469
Nicaragua7,367
Iran7,100
Japan6,369
Ecuador6,368
Liberia6,071
Laos5,988
Tajikistan5,500
Ethiopia5,390
Zambia4,373
Armenia4,270
Costa Rica4,255
Azerbaijan3,667
Georgia3,000
Madagascar2,833
Eritrea2,700
Honduras2,596
Malaysia2,124
India1,651
Guatemala1,647
Burma1,620
Spain1,605
Fiji1,425
Greece1,324
Serbia1,199
Uruguay1,062
North Macedonia972
Burundi953
Niger914
Botswana913
Cameroon713
Gabon600
Poland572
Vietnam557
Kenya503
Romania500
Slovakia447
Korea (Rep. of)283
Morocco220
South Sudan200
Equatorial Guinea200
Mozambique166
Congo150
Sierra Leone142
Algeria137
Central African Republic118
Panama100
Cyprus48
Chad10
Benin5
Uganda4
Taiwan4
United Kingdom0
Thailand0
Germany0
Eswatini (Swaziland)0
Data as above, but for the remaining countries.