5. How much gold comes out of gold mines each year?
Figures from the US Geological Survey show that 2,770 tonnes of gold were extracted from the ground worldwide in 2013. The largest gold producers were China (420 tonnes), Australia (255 tonnes), the United States (227 tonnes) and Russia (220 tonnes). Until 2006, South Africa was still the largest producer of gold in the world, but due to the depletion of the mines and the rise of the gold mining industry in other countries with more land area, South Africa has dropped to seventh place. The following graph shows that South Africa played an important role in the production of gold in recent decades. Before that time, a lot of gold came from the American continent, think of the gold rush in California, for example.
Annual production of gold mines since 1984
Gold mine production over the past fifty years
Gold mine production from 1850 onwards
