Top 10 Gold Producers in the World and in Africa Ranked

The top 10 gold producers in the world, by country, are China, Russia, Australia, Canada, the United States, Ghana, Mexico, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Peru. China leads with an estimated 380 tonnes in 2025, and Ghana is the top producer in Africa at 150 tonnes (USGS, Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026). If you meant companies, Newmont leads at 5.89 million ounces; that list is further down.

This page puts three rankings in one place: countries worldwide, countries in Africa and listed or state-backed companies. Each table says what its numbers count, because that is where most published rankings disagree.

Top 10 gold producers in the world by country

The ranking uses one metric from one source: estimated gold mine production in 2025 from the USGS. USGS names 13 countries and groups the rest as “other countries” (1,000 tonnes in total). Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan tie on 130 tonnes. Figures are rounded estimates, so small gaps between neighbours should not be read as exact.

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Gold mine production: eight leading countries

Tonnes, 2025 estimate; Uzbekistan (130 t, tied with Kazakhstan) not shown; Uzbekistan (130 t, tied with Kazakhstan) not shown

These ten add up to 1,990 tonnes, about 60% of the 3,300-tonne USGS world total. The next three named lines are Indonesia (90 tonnes), South Africa (90 tonnes) and Brazil (80 tonnes). Reserves are the gold judged economic to mine under current conditions, which is a narrower number than total gold in the ground. Australia and Russia hold the largest reserves, while China mines the most from a much smaller reserve base.

For a longer list with reserve life and copper alongside gold, see our guide to major gold producing countries. To see where the mines themselves sit, use the map of gold mines in the world.

▶ Follows one gold nugget from rock to ring: drilling, crushing, dissolving and refining (5:27). · 5:27

The leading producers, country by country

China. The largest producer by mine output in the USGS table, but with reserves of only 3,200 tonnes. Dividing reserves by 2025 output gives about 8 years, a rough ratio and not a forecast, since reserves are replaced as companies drill.

Russia and Australia. Both combine high output with reserves above 10,000 tonnes. Australia is the country where the two main data sets differ most: Geoscience Australia reports 314 tonnes for 2025 against the 280 tonnes USGS estimates. On the higher figure it would rank second, ahead of Russia’s 310 tonnes.

Canada. Flat at 200 tonnes in the USGS table for 2025, but the newest data point upward. The World Gold Council says Canadian output rose 22% year on year in the third quarter of 2026, as Equinox’s Valentine and B2Gold’s Goose mines came on stream (WGC, Q3 2026). Natural Resources Canada publishes the national detail by province.

United States. USGS estimates 160 tonnes in 2025, with Nevada at about 64% of national output and Alaska at about 22%. More than 40 lode mines in 12 states produced gold, and the top 25 operations yielded about 94% of it. Lode mines work gold in solid rock; placer mines recover it from sand and gravel.

Ghana. The only African country in the world top 10. Details are in the Africa section below.

Mexico, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Peru. All four sit between 110 and 140 tonnes, close enough that a single large mine starting or closing can change their order. Uzbekistan’s total is dominated by one state-owned group, Navoi Mining and Metallurgical Company, which reports 3.15 million ounces for 2025 (about 98 tonnes) in its IFRS results.

Top gold producing countries in Africa

Ghana is the top gold producing country in Africa: EITI and the World Gold Council both describe it that way, and USGS estimates 150 tonnes for 2025. Below Ghana, no single agency publishes a complete and comparable table, since USGS names only Ghana and South Africa on the continent. So the table below uses each country’s latest national figure and says what it counts. Read it as an order of magnitude, not a strict league table.

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Latest reported gold output, selected African countries

Tonnes; years and bases differ, see the table

Tanzania and Guinea are real producers but are not ranked here, because the sources used for this page give figures for individual mines there, not a national total on a comparable basis. Their mines are covered below.

Why the African order moves from year to year

Ghana is still rising. WGC reports output up 13% year on year in the third quarter of 2026, helped by Newmont’s Ahafo North mine and by more artisanal and small-scale gold, known as ASGM. Reserves of 1,000 tonnes give it the shortest reserve life of the top 10, about 7 years at 2025 output on a simple ratio. Our page on gold exploration in Ghana covers the belts and licensing.

Burkina Faso jumped because of how artisanal gold is captured: Ecofin Agency reports 42 tonnes of artisanal output within the 94-tonne total, so the rise reflects reforms in buying and recording as well as mining. Mali moved the other way. Industrial output fell 22.9% in 2025 to 42.2 tonnes during the dispute at Barrick’s Loulo-Gounkoto complex, according to Reuters through Kitco, so its 2025 number describes a disrupted year rather than the capacity of its mines.

South Africa has 5,000 tonnes of reserves in the USGS table, five times Ghana’s, on 90 tonnes of output; see gold mining areas in South Africa. Sudan is the least certain number on the table: the official 2024 figure is 64 tonnes, while SWISSAID’s African Gold Report estimates 70 to 90 tonnes a year and says official figures since April 2023 exclude RSF-controlled areas.

Tanzania and Guinea are best seen through their mines. AngloGold Ashanti reports 492,000 ounces from Geita in Tanzania in 2025 (annual report), about 15 tonnes, and 289,000 ounces from Siguiri in Guinea, about 9 tonnes (Ecofin Agency). For the West African group in more depth, read West African gold reserves and output by country, and for Tanzania’s belts see gold exploration in Tanzania.

▶ Explains whether foreigners can hold a small-scale mining licence in Africa (5:16). · 5:16

Top 10 gold mining companies by output

Many readers searching for “gold producers” mean companies. This table ranks the largest by reported gold output for 2025, or the latest fiscal year where stated. Bases differ, attributable meaning the share a company owns and gold-equivalent meaning other metals converted into gold terms. The full top 20, with sources for every row, is on our top 20 gold mining companies page.

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Eight largest gold miners by reported output

Million troy ounces, 2025 or latest fiscal year; bases differ

Together these ten report about 30.3 million ounces, roughly 945 tonnes. That is about a quarter of world mine output on the World Gold Council total, even though the bases differ. The company picture and the country picture also cut across each other: Newmont, for example, mines in Ghana, Australia and Canada, so its ounces count toward those countries, not toward the United States alone. This table lists facts from company reports and says nothing about which shares to own.

Global gold production statistics: how much the world mines

The two main world totals are about 370 tonnes apart. USGS estimates 3,300 tonnes for 2025, while the World Gold Council reports 3,672 tonnes, up from 3,650 tonnes in 2024. WGC calls that a record but warns its data are subject to revisions, which make it hard to say with certainty that the old high was broken. Artisanal gold is one reason estimates move: WGC’s data partner Metals Focus recently added about 470 tonnes of cumulative output since 2013, after better artisanal data from four Latin American countries (WGC, Q3 2026).

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World gold mine production by quarter

Tonnes, same quarter a year earlier against the latest

The newest quarters are higher again. WGC puts mine production at 966 tonnes in the second quarter of 2026 and 1,071 tonnes in the third, each a record for that quarter. With output up 2% year to date, WGC expects full-year 2026 to set a new high unless the fourth quarter disappoints. So far no country-level ranking for 2026 has been published by USGS, which is why the 2025 estimates above remain the reference point for “largest producer” questions.

Who is rising and falling in the latest quarter

In the third quarter of 2026, WGC lists the largest gains as Canada (+22%), Indonesia (+21%), Chile (+19%) and Ghana (+13%), year on year. The largest falls were Namibia (-29%), Turkey (-16%), Australia (-12%) and the United States (-7%). In Australia the fall was put down to low-grade mine sequencing at several operations, including the move to panel cave mining, a form of underground mining, at Newmont’s Cadia. Quarterly swings like these are often about which part of an orebody is being mined, so one quarter does not change a country’s long-run position.

Why published rankings of gold producers disagree

• Different sources. USGS, WGC with Metals Focus, national surveys and ministries each collect data differently.
• Artisanal gold. Some totals include estimates of small-scale mining and some exclude it. This matters most in West Africa and Latin America.
• Output against deliveries or exports. Zimbabwe’s figure counts official deliveries; Sudan’s official number differs widely from its exports.
• Year. Many lists mix 2023, 2024 and forecast numbers without saying so.
• Forecasts presented as facts. Figures labelled with a future year before it ends are projections, not production.

What a tonnage of gold is worth

One tonne holds about 32,150.7 troy ounces, the unit gold is priced in. At the Kitco bid of US$4,119.20 per troy ounce on 5 November 2026 (2:44 a.m. New York time), one tonne of gold is worth about US$132 million before costs, and Ghana’s 150 tonnes about US$19.9 billion. USGS gives a 2025 average of US$3,300 per ounce, and the US output of 160 tonnes was valued at about US$17 billion. Use the calculator to size a project against these national totals. All-in sustaining cost (AISC) is the usual measure of what it costs a miner to produce an ounce, including ongoing capital.

How a consultant can use these rankings

A country ranking tells you where gold is being produced now, not whether a particular licence holds any. A sensible order of work moves from national data to the ground itself: check the output and reserve trend, check who is operating nearby, confirm the licence and rules with the regulator, then look at the geology. Satellite imagery fits at that last desk stage, because it can map rock alteration and structure across a licence before anyone pays for drilling. Farmonaut offers satellite-based mineral detection for this step; the results are exploration targets that sit ahead of a resource estimate. You can send a boundary through the mining query form.

▶ Explains how satellites map the rock around gold, not the gold itself (4:25). · 4:25

Frequently asked questions

Who is the largest producer of gold in the world?

China, by country, with an estimated 380 tonnes in 2025 (USGS, 2026). By company, Newmont is largest at 5.89 million attributable ounces in 2025.

What are the top 10 gold producing countries?

China, Russia, Australia, Canada, the United States, Ghana, Mexico, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Peru, using USGS 2025 estimates. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan tie at 130 tonnes.

What are the top gold producing countries in Africa?

Ghana first at 150 tonnes (2025), then Burkina Faso at more than 94 tonnes as reported, South Africa at 90, Sudan at 64 officially (2024), Côte d’Ivoire at 59.1 (2024), Mali at 48.2 and Zimbabwe at 46.7 in official deliveries. The bases differ, so treat the middle of the order as approximate.

Which African country produces the most gold?

Ghana. EITI and the World Gold Council both name it Africa’s top producer, and it is the only African country in the USGS world top 10.

How much gold is mined in the world each year?

USGS estimates 3,300 tonnes for 2025; the World Gold Council reports 3,672 tonnes. The two organisations collect and estimate the data differently.

Is gold production still rising?

On World Gold Council data, yes so far. Third-quarter 2026 mine production was 1,071 tonnes, a record for that quarter, and output was up 2% year to date.

Which country has the largest gold reserves?

Australia at 13,000 tonnes, followed by Russia at 12,000 tonnes (USGS, 2026). These are mine reserves, not gold held by central banks.

Does the United States rank in the top 10?

Yes, fifth at an estimated 160 tonnes in 2025. Nevada produced about 64% of that and Alaska about 22% (USGS, 2026).

What is the best gold mining country?

No single answer exists, since it depends on what you need: output, reserves, title security or cost. These tables measure output and reserves only, so check licence rules, fiscal terms and security separately before forming a view.

How many ounces are in a tonne of gold?

About 32,150.7 troy ounces, since one troy ounce is 31.1035 grams.

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