Gold production rebounds, but it's still a silver medal for SA as Ghana retains lead

South Africa’s gold production rebounded to the 100 ton mark last year despite global production being slightly softer.

Data released by the US Geological Survey shows South African gold production rose to an estimated 100 tons in 2021, up 4% from 96 tons produced in the year prior in which global industries were hit by Covid-19 disruptions.

Worldwide gold mine production was estimated to be slightly less – dropping from 3030 tons to 3000 tons - as lower gold mine production in Papua New Guinea, Russia, and the US more than offset production increases in South Africa, Ghana, Tanzania, China and Indonesia.

South Africa once produced close to 1000 tons of gold accounting for two thirds of the world’s production. Today its industry is dwarfed by that of Australia, China and Russia which each produce more than 300 tons of the yellow metal a year.

On the African continent, South Africa also continues to play second fiddle to Ghana which produced 130 tons of gold, up from 125 tons in the previous year.

The US  Geological Survey however shows South Africa continues to hold some of the biggest gold reserves amounting to 5000 tons and trumped only by 6800 tons in Russia and 11 000 tons in Australia.

Although sizeable, South Africa’s reserves are increasingly uneconomic to access because of the increasing depth of the ore bodies as well as high input costs such as electricity and labour.