Gold is a commodity that never loses its charm. Until now, its demand has never sunk as it's constantly experiencing a spike. The largest gold-producing country was South Africa, where they ever made more than 1,000 metric tons, equal to twofold world production outside South Afr. Well, they were not surprised that they became the most prosperous country in the Africa continent. 

Since 2007, this position has been chaired by China. After dropping down, the production of South Africa continued to shrink until other countries eventually overtook it. Ghana’s top rank is taken over by 145 metric tons, where South Africa only reached about 90 metric tons. 

According to the current data from the British Geological Survey (BGS), here are the world’s ten largest gold-producing countries.

China

For many years, China has been the top-producing nation, counting for 11 percent of worldwide mine production. However, production dropped from 383 tonnes to 368 last year, representing the fourth consecutive year of declines. The descending is fundamentally due to tighter environmental policies imposed by the government, like stricter control over the use of cyanide at gold mines has forced several operations to cut back production.

The largest gold-producing regions in China are Shandong, Henan, Jianxi, Yunan, and Fujian.

Australia

Despite its gold manufacturing falling from 325 tonnes in 2019 to 320 tonnes in 2020, Australia is currently second on the list of the peak gold-producing countries in the world. Some of the major gold mines in the country include Cadia-Ridgeway Mine, Boddington Gold Mine, and Fosterville. The USGS’s data estimates Australia holds gold reserves of about 10,000 tonnes. In August 2017, OZ Minerals announced it would construct the Carrapateena copper-gold mine in South Australia at the cost of $724m.

Russia

A vast 83 percent of European gold is Russia which increases 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, purchases around two-thirds of all gold produced locally.

Russia is known to have the largest gold mining area in the world, called Olympiada. This mine located on the East Siberian data can produce hundreds of tons of gold every year.

The United States of America

The US recorded gold production of 190 tonnes in 2020 – a slight decrease from the 200 tonnes mined in 2019. The country sits in fourth place in the list of top gold producers globally and has estimated gold reserves of about 3,000 tonnes. Some of the major gold mines in the country include the Carlin Trend gold mine, Goldstrike mine, Cortez gold mine, and Cripple Creek and Victor. Newmont Mining, Freeport-McMoRan, and Coeur Mining are significant gold-producing companies in the US.

Canada

Canada has held the number five spot for four years now, even after mining 12 fewer tonnes in 2020 than it did the previous year. The country’s top gold mine was Canadian Malartic, co-owned by Yamana Gold and Agnico Eagle, responsible for producing over 16 tonnes last year. The largest gold suppliers are Red Lake, Quebec, and British Columbia.

Indonesia

Indonesia, home to one of the world’s largest gold mines, plans to set up a bullion bank to spur trading of the precious metal domestically. The government is consulting with parties, including the central bank and the mining industry, to start operating the bank in 2024. Indonesia is Southeast Asia’s biggest gold producer, with the Grasberg mine in Papua holding one of the world’s largest reserves. The push to create a bullion bank is part of resource-rich Indonesia’s broader effort to climb up the commodities value chain. That drive has included forcing copper and nickel miners to invest in domestic refining, allowing the country to profit from higher-value products rather than raw materials exports.