Leading countries in gold production, export and consumption in the world

Hello, dear readers of the Tyulyagin project! Today we will talk to you about gold. This is already the third article about it, if I don’t confuse anything, then we have already talked about the gold reserves, and touched on gold in the article about the gold and foreign exchange reserves of the countries of the world, today we will talk about gold mining in the countries of the world . In addition, in the article you will learn what gold is used for in the modern economy, you will learn the largest exporters and importers of this precious metal, as well as the leading countries in gold consumption . In addition, the article contains unique statistics on gold mining in Russia (in the Russian Empire and in the USSR) since 1600 .

What is gold and what is it used for?

Gold is a noble metal of yellow color. This metal is very highly valued by people and is one of the most expensive among other metals. The high cost of the metal is largely due to its rarity in nature. Although the metal is actually not that rare, since it is found in small quantities almost everywhere. So gold can be found in the earth's crust, it is contained in sea and river water. However, the gold mining process itself is extremely labor-intensive and requires a large amount of work. To get just one ounce of gold, you need to process about 3 tons of ore.

Gold reserves on Earth are insignificant relative to other metals. Gold has good preservation properties. Throughout world history, gold has rarely been lost and has always been melted down and accumulated again. All this allowed gold to become an important element of the economy and financial system of many countries. Nowadays, gold is used as an important way of investing and accumulating capital. Often, investors invest their savings in this asset during periods of economic instability. Gold is also actively used by countries around the world in the formation of the country's gold reserves and gold and foreign exchange reserves. However, gold has a number of other applications in economics, investment and trade - jewelry, medicine, modern industry and others.

Gold is the most popular metal in the manufacture of jewelry metals. However, gold itself is a very soft metal, and when making jewelry, other metals are added in addition to gold to make it harder. Most often, zinc, copper, silver, platinum, palladium and other non-ferrous metals are added when making jewelry.

Due to its metallic properties (malleability, ductility, resistance to aggressive environments), gold is actively used in modern industry in the manufacture of ultra-thin products, for example, in the manufacture of modern electronics - processors, various circuit boards, etc. In addition, gold is used in aviation, nanotechnology, chemical industry and other industries. Gold is even used in nuclear energy.

Due to its low oxidation, gold has found extensive use in dentistry. The precious metal is also used in some medicines for the treatment of tuberculosis, arthritis and cancer.

Leading countries in gold reserves

I already wrote about gold reserves in countries around the world in one of my articles. Therefore, now I will only briefly list a short list of the world leaders in gold reserves. In a separate article you can see the complete list of countries in the world by gold reserves at the end of 2019 - beginning of 2021.

the United States leads the overall ranking ; the gold reserves of the states today exceed 8.1 thousand tons . The closest pursuer, Germany, lags behind by more than two times in terms of gold reserves. In Germany, the gold reserve is 3.3 thousand tons. The top 5 countries in the world also include Italy (2.45 thousand tons), France (2.43 thousand tons) and Russia (2.2 thousand tons). In addition, the top ten also included China, Switzerland, Japan, India and the Netherlands. More detailed statistics on gold reserves here.

Foreign gold mining companies

• Barrick Gold Company. It produces gold at 26 mines in the United States, Canada, South America, Africa and Australia. Headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
• Newmont Mining Company. It mines mineral resources in the USA, Australia, Peru, Indonesia, Ghana, Canada, Bolivia, Uzbekistan, Mexico and New Zealand. Headquartered in Denver, Colorado, USA.
• Gold Corp. Engaged in the exploration, development and exploitation of precious metals deposits in North, Central and South America, as well as in Australia. Head office in Vancouver, Canada.
• Kinross Gold
  Company . The main activities are carried out in Canada, the United States, Brazil, Ecuador, Chile and the Russian Far East. Development of talented and high potential employees. Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, with approximately 5,500 employees worldwide.
• Agnico-Eagle Mines Company. In Canada (Quebec), northern Finland, northern Mexico and the USA. Head office in Toronto, Canada.

Rating of countries in the world by gold production

People have been mining gold for a very long time. The first mentions of gold begin 5 thousand years BC. It is believed that the first region where humanity began to mine gold was the Middle East. In addition, gold was also mined in Ancient Egypt. Over the next centuries, gold repeatedly became the target of wars.

The discovery of new large gold deposits has always led to significant changes in the economies of regions and entire states. The discovery of particularly large deposits led to a gold rush.

Gold is valued by many countries to this day. Many states are trying to accumulate and extract as much gold as possible in order to ensure a stable future for their state and economy.

So, at the end of 2021 (statistics for 2021 as of May 2021 are unknown), the leaders in gold production are China, Australia, Russia and the USA .

China ranks first and produces about 400 tons of gold per year . It’s interesting, but less than 50 years ago, production in China did not exceed 10 tons per year; in those years, South Africa was the undisputed leader in gold production, with production of 700-1000 tons of gold annually. However, since 1980, production in China began to grow rapidly. So, by 1990, China had produced a record 100 tons of gold for the country at that time, by 2005 it had already produced more than 200 tons, and throughout the last decade it has been consistently producing more than 300 tons of gold every year.

Australia's production is about 310-315 tons of gold , it ranks second. Gold mining in Australia also began to develop rapidly in the 80s of the last century. In just ten years from 1980 to 1990, production increased 10 times and amounted to about 240 tons. Mining continued to grow until 1997, when more than 300 tons of the precious metal were mined. Since then, gold production in Australia has fluctuated at 250-320 tons of gold per year.

Russia is in third place with production of about 282-300 tons of gold, according to various estimates. However, according to preliminary forecasts, gold production in Russia at the end of 2021 amounted to about 350 tons. This figure will allow Russia to move into second place after China at the end of 2019. We'll talk more about gold mining in Russia below in the corresponding paragraph.

Following the top three is the USA with production of 220-250 tons of gold per year . The current production level is not a record for the United States. Gold production in the United States peaked at the end of the last century, when more than 350 tons were mined annually.

You can see the complete list of countries in the world by gold production