WASHINGTON, DC – According to figures gleaned from the
US Geological Survey’s Mineral Commodities Summary, China remains the largest gold producing country in the world. Production there is estimated to reach 490 tonnes in 2015, followed by Australia with 300 tonnes.
Here are the top 10 gold producing countries:
| Country |
2015 Rank |
Production (tonnes) |
Production (tonnes) |
% Change |
| China |
1 |
490 |
450 |
+8.9 |
| Australia |
2 |
300 |
274 |
+9.5 |
| Russia |
3 |
242 |
247 |
- 2.0 |
| United States |
4 |
200 |
210 |
- 4.8 |
| Canada |
5 |
150 |
152 |
- 1.3 |
| Peru |
6 |
150 |
140 |
+7.1 |
| South Africa |
7 |
140 |
152 |
- 7.9 |
| Mexico |
8 |
120 |
118 |
+1.7 |
| Uzbekistan |
9 |
103 |
100 |
+3.0 |
| Ghana |
10 |
85 |
91 |
- 6.6 |
| Brazil |
11 |
80 |
80 |
(none) |
| Indonesia |
12 |
75 |
69 |
+8.7 |
| Papua New Guinea |
13 |
50 |
53 |
- 5.7 |
| Other Countries |
|
855 |
858 |
- 0.4 |
| World Total |
|
3,000 |
2,900 |
+3.4 |
–
The only change for last year was that Peru moved up one spot to No.6 at the expense of South Africa that dropped one spot to No. 7.
As this is the time of year companies are preparing for their annual shareholders’ meeting, looking through company data makes it simple to pick out the largest gold producing companies by going through their public data.
Here are the top 10 gold miners for the last two years (million oz):
| Company |
Country |
Rank |
2015 |
2014 |
% Change |
| Barrick Gold |
Canada |
1 |
6.12 |
6.50 |
- 5.8 |
| Newmont Mining |
United States |
2 |
5.00 |
4.80 |
+4.2 |
| AngloGold Ashanti |
South Africa |
3 |
3.95 |
4.40 |
- 10.2 |
| Goldcorp |
Canada |
4 |
3.46 |
2.87 |
+20.6 |
| Kinross Gold* |
Canada |
5 |
2.59 |
2.71 |
- 4.4 |
| Newcrest Mining |
Australia |
6 |
2.49 |
2.33 |
+6.9 |
| Gold Fields |
South Africa |
7 |
2.16 |
2.22 |
- 2.7 |
| Polyus Gold |
Russia |
8 |
1.74 |
1.70 |
+2.4 |
| Agnico Eagle Mines |
Canada |
9 |
1.67 |
1.43 |
+16.8 |
| Sibanye Gold |
South African |
10 |
1.54 |
1.59 |
- 3.1 |
*Gold equivalent
Readers should not be surprised at the ranking of largest gold producers. Barrick has been the leader for many years, and Goldcorp took a jump with the opening of the Eleonore mine in Nunavut.
Canada can be proud of contributing four out of the 10 top gold producers to the list. The result speaks well of the resource base in this country as well as the expertise Canadian companies take with them when hunting gold around the globe.
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