Manitoba Mining Information

Golden Resources

Gold Production

The following overview of Gold extraction, ore grades and production levels was adopted from the Wikipedia page for gold. Links are included to reference materials and additional information pages.

Economic gold extraction can be achieved from ore grades as little as 0.5 g/1000 kg (0.5 parts per million, ppm) on average in large easily mined deposits. Typical ore grades in open-pit mines are 1–5 g/1000 kg (1–5 ppm), ore grades in underground or hard rock mines are usually at least 3 g/1000 kg (3 ppm) on average. Since ore grades of 30 g/1000 kg (30 ppm) are usually needed before gold is visible to the naked eye, in most gold mines the gold is invisible.

Since the 1880s, South Africa has been the source for a large proportion of the world’s gold supply, with about 50% of all gold ever produced having come from South Africa. Production in 1970 accounted for 79% of the world supply, producing about 1,000 tonnes. However by 2007 production was just 272 tonnes. This sharp decline was due to the increasing difficulty of extraction, changing economic factors affecting the industry, and tightened safety auditing. In 2007 China (with 276 tonnes) overtook South Africa as the world’s largest gold producer, the first time since 1905 that South Africa has not been the largest.

Goldsheetlinks.com reports preliminary data on recent gold production as

2006

1. South Africa: 275mt (11.0%)
2. United States: 260mt (10.5%)
3. Australia: 251mt (10.2%)
4. China: 240mt (9.7%)
5. Peru: 203mt (8.2%)
6. Indonesia: 167mt (6.8%) (2005)
7. Russia: 152.6mt (6.2%)
8. Canada: 104mt (4.2%)
9. Papau New Guinea 66.7mt (2.7%) (2005)
10. Ghana 63.1mt (2.6%) (2005)
Other: 699mt

TOTAL: 2469mt

2007

1. China: 276mt
2. South Africa: 272mt
3. United States: 255mt (estimated)
4. Australia: 251mt (est)
5. Indonesia: 171mt (est)
6. Peru: 167mt
7. Russia: 4.9mt (est)
8. Canada: 93mt
9. Papau New Guinea: n/a
10. Ghana: n/a
Other: n/a

TOTAL: 2444mt