Gold production in South African mines is declining sharply

Since January 2013, South African gold production has fallen further, this time by a further 11.3% compared to January 2012. The annual production of gold during this period has a value of about 220 tons. This is the lowest production value since 1922.

Despite this downward trend in gold production, the production of other precious metals in South Africa remains fairly stable. Platinum production even shows a small increase of 1.9%.

Until the late 1990s, Africa was far ahead of other countries in terms of gold production and for years accounted for 2/3 of the entire global gold production and had the most efficient working methods to extract the gold.

South Africa's gold production summit took place in 1970. This year, more than 1000 tons of gold was extracted from the gold mines. South Africa was well ahead of other major gold mines worldwide at this time.

Today, South Africa is only responsible for less than 20% of the world's gold production. Countries that now play a more important role in this production are: China, Australia and the US.

There are several reasons why gold production in South Africa is declining so dramatically. For example, there is speculation that the Apartheid Regime made the production figures appear larger than they actually were, causing them to fall faster in percentage terms than they actually were. Most South African mines are also depleted, they have to dig deeper to find gold. The deeper and deeper excavation of the gold mines puts the safety of the miners at risk. Also, fewer and fewer underground gold reserves are being discovered, this does not only affect South Africa but applies to the entire world.

Source: www.bullionstreet.com