Countries With Most Gold Mines: Data on 13 Top Producers

Among countries with official counts, Australia stands out for gold mine numbers: Geoscience Australia lists 179 operating gold mines in 2025. China mines the most gold by weight, at an estimated 380 tonnes in 2025, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS). Those are two different rankings, and the gap between them matters.

The main international tables report tonnes and reserves, not the number of mines. So a single worldwide “most mines” league table would rest on guesswork. This page does something more useful. It sets out the official mine counts that exist, ranks the 13 countries USGS names by output and reserves, and shows where the world’s 20 biggest gold operations sit.

Which country has the most gold mines?

The clearest answer on official figures is a comparison of two national counts. They use different definitions, so treat them as a guide and not as a strict ranking.

A lode mine works gold held in solid rock, usually in veins. A placer mine works loose gold in sand and gravel that rivers have carried away from the rock. Small placer sites can be numerous and produce little, which is one reason a raw count says so little about scale.

The US has also changed over time. A US Environmental Protection Agency paper, drawing on Bureau of Mines data from 1990, counted 201 active gold mines, about 90% of them lode and 10% placer. That older count and today’s USGS wording are not defined in the same way, so the two should not be read as an exact trend.

Why a mine count is hard to pin down

• Complexes count as one or many. Nevada Gold Mines is reported as a single operation, yet MINING.COM describes it as 10 underground and 12 open-pit mines. Count it once or 22 times and the US total changes sharply.
• Individual mines versus operations. Geoscience Australia says its figure counts individual mines that operated during 2025. Some belong to larger multi-mine operations, and some may have closed during the year.
• By-product gold. About 7% of US gold in 2025 came from processing base-metal ores, chiefly copper, according to USGS. A copper mine can add gold without appearing as a “gold mine”.
• Informal sites. Artisanal and small-scale gold mining is present in over 80 countries and produces up to 20% of the world’s gold, according to a peer-reviewed review. Many of those workings would never appear on a list of named mines.

▶ How gold is mined and refined, from rock to finished metal. · 5:27

Top gold mining countries ranked by output and reserves

USGS names 13 countries in its 2026 gold table, and “other countries” add about 1,000 tonnes more. This ranking uses its 2025 production estimates. Reserves are gold that can be mined economically under current conditions, so they are a much smaller figure than total gold in the ground.

Chart

Gold mine output, top eight countries

Tonnes, 2025 estimates; Uzbekistan ties Kazakhstan at 130 t

The top three countries supply 970 tonnes, about 29% of the rounded 3,300-tonne world total. All 13 together supply about 2,250 tonnes, or roughly 68%. The final column is a simple ratio calculated by Farmonaut from the USGS figures. It is not a forecast of when any country will run out, because reserves change with price, drilling and new mines.

For the wider production table and the copper comparison, see our guide to the top gold and copper producing countries.

Why rankings differ between sources

Different publishers measure on different bases. USGS puts 2025 world mine output at about 3,300 tonnes, while the World Gold Council estimates 3,672 tonnes, a possible record still subject to revision. The World Gold Council also says China supplied around 10% of global production in 2025. USGS’s numbers give about 11.5%, on its smaller world total.

National data can also change the order. Geoscience Australia’s preliminary table gives Australian mine production of 314 tonnes in 2025, against the 280-tonne USGS estimate. On that one national figure, Australia would sit just above the USGS estimate for Russia. If you quote a rank, quote its source and year with it.

Where the world’s largest gold mines are

A country can hold few mines and still matter a great deal, because a single operation can produce tens of tonnes a year. MINING.COM’s ranking of the 20 largest gold operations, using S&P Global data for 2025, shows how output concentrates. One thousand ounces is written as koz, and one tonne holds about 32,151 troy ounces.

Chart

Eight largest gold operations

Thousand troy ounces (koz), 2025

Only three countries place two operations in the full top 20: Uzbekistan, Russia and Canada. The other 14 operations sit in 14 different countries, from the Dominican Republic (Pueblo Viejo) and Kyrgyzstan (Kumtor) to Brazil (Paracatu), Papua New Guinea (Lihir), Australia (Boddington), Mali (Fekola), Peru (Yanacocha), Chile (Salares Norte) and Egypt (Sukari). China, the largest producing country, has none on the list. That fits the wider point: a high national total does not need a giant single mine.

Grasberg is a warning about reading one year too closely. Its output fell about 50% in 2025 after a deadly mudslide in September shut the operation, and MINING.COM reports that part-owner Freeport McMoRan aims to return to normal operations by the end of 2027. It is also a mine where copper matters alongside gold, so its rank reflects its gold output and not its full scale.

How much one mine can matter to a country

• United States: Nevada Gold Mines’ 2,595 koz equals about 81 tonnes, close to half of the 160-tonne national estimate. USGS says Nevada as a state supplies about 64% of US gold and Alaska about 22%.
• Uzbekistan: Muruntau and Almalyk together produced about 76 tonnes, which is roughly 59% of the 130-tonne USGS estimate.
• Canada: Detour Lake and Canadian Malartic produced about 42 tonnes, about a fifth of the national total, so output is spread more widely.
• Ghana: Ahafo’s 664 koz is about 21 tonnes, about 14% of the 150-tonne estimate.

These shares mix two datasets and are approximate. Find out more about the companies behind these operations in our list of the top gold mining companies.

Country profiles: where the gold mines are

China

China is the largest producer in both USGS and World Gold Council data, yet its reserves of 3,200 tonnes are only about 8 years of 2025 output. No Chinese operation appears in the top 20 above. For a reader, the practical lesson is that its national total cannot be explained by a few famous assets.

Chart

Output against reserves, selected countries

Tonnes; reserves and 2025 estimates

Russia

Russia’s 310-tonne estimate and 12,000 tonnes of reserves make it second on both measures in the USGS table. Olimpiada and Blagodatnoye, both Polyus mines, are in the top 10 operations. Olimpiada’s output fell 6% in 2025, while Blagodatnoye’s rose 47% as a new mill ramped up.

Australia

Australia holds the largest reserves in the USGS table at 13,000 tonnes, about 20% of the 66,000-tonne world figure. Its 179 mines and 314 tonnes work out at about 1.75 tonnes per mine, or about 56,000 ounces. That average hides a wide spread, because Boddington alone produced 565 koz in 2025.

Canada

Natural Resources Canada says gold is mined in 10 provinces and territories, with Ontario and Quebec together making 68% of 2024 output. Detour Lake is in Ontario and Canadian Malartic is in Quebec. The agency ranked Canada as the fourth-largest producer in 2024.

United States

USGS says the top 25 US operations yielded about 94% of the mined gold in 2025. That is about 150 tonnes, or an average of about 6 tonnes each, and it leaves very little for the many remaining sites. The USGS 2022 yearbook shows the same concentration, with the two leading states at 73% and 13% of national output that year. For the state detail see our guides to active US gold mines and gold deposits by state.

Ghana

Ghana is the highest African producer in the USGS table, at 150 tonnes. Its reserves of 1,000 tonnes are the smallest of the 13 countries, about 7 years of 2025 output on the simple ratio. Newmont’s Ahafo, 10% owned by the government of Ghana, ranks in the world’s top 10 operations.

Mexico

Mexico mined an estimated 140 tonnes in 2025 and holds 1,400 tonnes of reserves. It has no operation in the top 20, another example of a national total built from outside the largest mines.

Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan

These two neighbours tie at 130 tonnes in the USGS estimates. Kazzinc Consolidated, in which Glencore holds a 70% stake, ranked fourth among operations in 2025, up from seventh a year earlier. Muruntau and Almalyk supply most of Uzbekistan’s output on the figures above, and MINING.COM describes Almalyk as state-owned.

Peru

Peru’s estimate is 110 tonnes, with 2,200 tonnes of reserves. Newmont’s Yanacocha produced 515 koz in 2025, about 16 tonnes, and ranked 18th.

Indonesia

Indonesia holds 3,600 tonnes of reserves against a 90-tonne estimate for 2025, down from 94 tonnes in 2024. Grasberg, its largest operation on the list above, was shut by the September 2025 mudslide, and MINING.COM reported in March 2026 that parts of it had restarted.

South Africa

The South African figure shows the gap between history and present output. The Minerals Council South Africa describes the Witwatersrand Basin as the world’s largest gold resource, and says the sector employed 93,841 people in 2022. USGS estimates just 90 tonnes of mine output in 2025 against 5,000 tonnes of reserves, the longest ratio in the table at about 56 years. A long ratio does not mean easy mining; the council describes much of the industry as marginal at the price it was assessing.

Brazil

Brazil’s estimate is 80 tonnes, with 2,500 tonnes of reserves. Kinross’s Paracatu ranked 14th among operations with 586.6 koz in 2025, an 11% rise on 2024, which is about 18 tonnes.

Best gold mining countries: what a consultant should compare

People who search for the best gold mining countries usually want more than a list of tonnes. No single table answers that, because the right country depends on the project. If you are advising on a licence or a new jurisdiction, compare these points in order.

1. Geology and reserves: compare reserves with output, then look at the district and not only the country.
2. Size of mines already working there: a place with many small mines suits a different owner from one dominated by a few large complexes.
3. Licence rules: check the term, who can hold a licence, and the renewal conditions with the regulator.
4. Royalties and tax: enter the current rates in your own model, because a rate can change between one study and the next.
5. Sanctions and state ownership: some large producers are harder for outside companies to work with. MINING.COM notes state-owned operations in Uzbekistan, for example.
6. The informal sector: check whether artisanal miners already work the area, as this affects land access, community relations and safety.

Our separate guide to the best countries for gold mining investment goes deeper into the investment side. It is for information and is not advice on any company or country.

▶ Whether foreigners can get a small-scale mining licence in Africa. · 5:16

Work out output per mine and its value

A quick way to compare two countries or districts is average output per mine. Use the calculator below with a national count, such as Geoscience Australia’s 179 mines and 314 tonnes, or with a district you are studying. As a reference, gold traded at about US$4,117 per troy ounce on 5 November 2026 (Trading Economics). Prices move daily, so enter the price of the day. The result is gross metal value, before any mining costs, royalties or tax.

Averages have limits. In the US, 25 operations yield about 94% of output, so an average across every mine would badly understate the large ones and overstate the small ones.

What the numbers mean for future supply

The World Gold Council points to rising margins, new projects and small-scale output as supports for production. It also says new mines are becoming harder to find, permit and build, with major discoveries steadily declining, and that older mines will gradually phase out. So today’s mine count is only a snapshot.

That matters for anyone screening ground. Before drilling, satellite imagery can help a consultant compare a licence area against known mining districts and narrow where to send field crews. The output of such a screen is an exploration target, which comes ahead of any resource estimate and does not replace drilling. Farmonaut offers satellite-based mineral detection for this stage, and project questions can go through the mining query form or the contact page.

▶ How satellites help find gold, with remote sensing explained. · 4:25

Frequently asked questions

Which country has the most gold mines?

Australia has the clearest large official count, with 179 gold mines operating in 2025 (Geoscience Australia). Most other producers do not publish a matching figure, so a full worldwide ranking by mine count cannot be built on the same definition.

Which countries have the most gold?

By reserves, Australia leads with 13,000 tonnes and Russia follows with 12,000 tonnes, then South Africa with 5,000 tonnes (USGS, 2026). These figures describe gold still underground, not gold held by central banks.

Who are the major gold producing countries?

China, Russia, Australia, Canada and the United States lead the USGS 2025 estimates, at 380, 310, 280, 200 and 160 tonnes. Ghana follows at 150 tonnes.

What is the largest gold mine in the world?

Nevada Gold Mines is the largest operation by 2025 output, at 2,595 koz (MINING.COM, S&P Global data). It is a complex of many mines. Muruntau in Uzbekistan ranks second at 1,708 koz.

Who are the biggest gold miners?

Operators in the top rankings include Barrick and Newmont (joint owners of Nevada Gold Mines), Navoi Mining & Metallurgy, Polyus and Agnico Eagle. Company output and mine output are separate rankings, as one company can own many mines.

How many gold mines are in the United States?

USGS reports more than 40 lode mines in 12 states in 2025, plus several large placer mines in Alaska and numerous smaller placer mines. It does not give one total, and the top 25 operations yield about 94% of the gold.

Which African country mines the most gold?

Ghana leads the African countries named by USGS, with an estimated 150 tonnes in 2025. South Africa is at 90 tonnes. Other African producers fall inside the USGS “other countries” line.

How much gold is mined in the world each year?

USGS estimates about 3,300 tonnes for 2025 and the World Gold Council reports 3,672 tonnes. The two publishers use different totals, so check which one a share or rank is based on.

How many years of gold reserves are left?

USGS’s world reserves of 66,000 tonnes equal about 20 years of 2025 output on a simple ratio. This is not a countdown, because reserves change as prices shift and drilling adds or removes ore.

Does a country with more mines produce more gold?

Not necessarily. The US, with far fewer listed lode mines than Australia’s total count, still produces 160 tonnes, about half of it from one large Nevada complex. Mine size matters as much as mine number.