A Golden Geography Lesson

Cart carrying gold

Ever wonder where all that gold comes from?

About one-fourth of the world’s needs each year comes from recycled gold, which is why Dallas Gold & Silver Exchange has been buying the precious metal with fair prices, integrity and transparency for more than four decades.

But as hard as we work, it’s not enough. So the world has to dig up the rest, on every continent except Antarctica. If you like Top Ten Lists, the annual GFMS Gold Survey has just been released with country-by-country totals for 2017.

First, the big picture: overall production was 3,247 tonnes (also known as metric tons, which is 1,000 kilos, or about 2,200 pounds) down only 5 tonnes from 2016 but the first time the number has declined since 2008. Analysts cited environmental concerns, rising costs of sophisticated mining operations and crackdown on illegal mining in some countries as factors.

Here are the leading gold-producing countries:

  1. China, 426 tonnes, down 6 percent but by far the most in the world.
  2. Australia, 295 tonnes.
  3. Russia, 271 tonnes.
  4. United States, 230 tonnes, with three-fourths of that in Nevada alone.
  5. Canada, 176 tonnes, up from No. 7 in 2016.
  6. Peru, 162 tonnes.
  7. Indonesia, 154 tonnes.
  8. South Africa, 140 tonnes. The former world leader has been steadily declining in the last decade.
  9. Mexico, 131 tonnes, 2 1/2 times the total 10 years ago.
  10. Ghana, 102 tonnes.

Don’t forget to print this out for your next trivia contest. And if you have broken jewelry, unwanted pieces or bullion, or rare coins stop by Dallas Gold & Silver Exchange to turn your own gold mine into hard cash. The world is counting on us.