Wed Feb 20 2013
In 2012, the top 10 gold
producing countries slightly increased their gold output.
According to the United States
Geological Survey (USGS) provisional data — updated with the recent official
figures for China, Russia and Peru — estimated global gold production rose to
2,700 tons in 2012, or 1.4% growth compared to 2011 (2,662 tons).
The top 10 gold producing
countries mined out about 1,807 tons of the precious metal which is 2.4% more
than in 2011 (1,765 tons).
Among them, four countries —
China, Russia, Canada, Ghana — increased their gold output and six — Australia,
USA, South Africa, Peru, Indonesia, Uzbekistan — fell in production (Figure 1).
Taking into account the quite
borderline provisional data for Indonesia and Uzbekistan with a difference of
only one ton of produced gold in 2011/2012, these countries eventually could be
either gainers or losers later, depending on final gold output figures.
http://www.mining.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Gold-production-2012-leading-countries-update1.jpg
Figure 1. Gold production by ten
leading countries in 2011/2012, tons (USGS data, except China, Russia and
Peru).
China is the undisputed leader
for a sixth consecutive year with 403 tons of gold produced in 2012 (+11.3%)
followed by Australia (250 tons, -3.1%) and the US (230 tons, -1.7%). Russia
increased its gold output by 8.5%, to 217 tons (include primary production and
by-product), and holds fourth place.
Ranked fifth, South Africa
significantly decreased its gold production in 2012 (-6.1%).
Ghana, which shares leadership
with China in terms of gold production growth in 2012 (+11.3% compared to
2011), rounds out the list of top 10 producers.
Full data on world gold production in 2011/2012 is presented in the following table.
http://www.mining.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/World-gold-production-2011-2012-update.jpg
Table 1. World gold production in 2011/2012, by top producing countries, tons of gold (USGS report, except data for China, Russia and Peru). Unlike previous years, medium and small gold-producing countries decreased their gold output in 2012 by 0.4%, from 897 tons of gold in 2011 to 893 tons in 2012.
Source: mining.com
