World's top 10 Gold Mines or Deposits
World's top 10 Gold Mines or Deposits
The top gold mines or deposits are mainly acknowledged by the annual production of the Gold mined from it and the reserve available. In the world, the gold mines or the gold deposits are the most common part of enthusiasm of most of the people. People generally talk about it and search about it. It is basically an most interesting part of discussion when the talks goes on Treasures. Everyone whether he or she may be a poor or a rich everybody like to talk about the treasure or the hidden treasure. Below are the countries which are producing gold with Volume. World's top 10 gold deposits are as follows.
No. 1 : GRASBERG
Gold Quantity : 106,231,000 Oz Gold
Location: Papua, INDONESIA.
The site is located in the mountains at an altitude of 4,300 meters or 14,000 feet and is owned by Freeport McMoRan but includes a sizeable sharing agreement with miner Rio Tinto. The operations consist of both open pit and underground mines, and have been in operation since the 1980's and the pit forms an enormous mile wide crater.
No. 2 : SOUTH DEEP
Gold Quantity : 81,413,000 Oz Gold
Location: Near Johannesburg, SOUTH AFRICA.
It is located in the Witwatersrand Basin, very near to 8th place Mponeng. The mine is in the early stages of ramping up to full production. Mining began at the site in 1961 and Gold Fields bought the operation in 2006. It is estimated that the mine will maintain this high rate of production until 2057 with mine life lasting until 2080.
No. 3 : LIHIR
Gold Quantity : 64,100,000 Oz Gold
Location : Niolam (aka Lihir) Island, PAPUA NEW GUINEA.
It has began production in 1997 and is currently owned by Australian major Newcrest who acquired it in 2010 for a cool US$22B. the other remote mine, located on the small island of Lihir, over 900km (560mi) east of Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. The pit is actually in the caldera of an extinct volcano that is geothermically active. Retrofitting is currently underway to dramatically increase production, which will likely make it one of the largest gold producers as well.
No. 4 : MURUNTAU
Gold Quantity : 50,000,000 Oz Gold
Location : Kyzyl Kum Desert, UZBEKISTAN.
Muruntau is physically the largest open pit gold mine on earth, measuring 3.5km x 2.5km across (2.2mi x 1.6mi) at the surface. This facility is currently owned by the Uzbek government. Oyu Tolgoi and Olympiada, this mine is located on the remote fringes of the Asian steppe.
No. 5 : OLYMPIADA
Gold Quantity : 47,500,000 Oz Gold
Location : Central Siberia, RUSSIA.
Olympiada was discovered in 1970 and finally went into production in 1996 and despite its age it has plenty of resource life left. Russia is the 4th largest gold producer in the world, and as Russia's biggest producer, Olympiada was responsible for 9% of the total in 2012.
No. 6 : OYU TOLGOI
Gold Quantity : 46,340,000 Oz Gold
Location : South Gobi Desert, MONGOLIA.
It is also be one of the largest gold and copper producers on earth as it ramps up to full production. The newly developed mammoth deposit located in the remote southern reaches of Mongolia.The mine cost the princely sum of US$6.6B to develop and went into production in January 2013. In addition to its 46Moz+ of gold, it also contains over 40 billion pounds of copper worth US$140B.
No. 7 : PUEBLO VIEJO
Gold Quantity : 40,085,000 Oz Gold
Location : DOMINICAN REPUBLIC.
The open pit mine is very new and began production in January 2013. It also has large silver and copper reserves to complement its gold deposit. As it ramps up to full production, it will also be one of the largest producers in the world, It has majors Barrick (60%) and Goldcorp (40%). This large deposit is located in the Dominican Republic, roughly 100 km northwest of the capital of Santo Domingo.
No. 8 : MPONENG
Gold Quantity : 39,557,000 Oz Gold
Location : Near Johannesburg, SOUTH AFRICA.
It is being one of the largest, Mponeng is also one of the world's deepest underground mines. Mponeng is located appox. 65 km west of Johannesburg in one of the world's most prolific mining regions known as the Witwatersrand. It extends over 2 miles below the surface and it takes over an hour to reach the bottom.
No. 9 : CADIA EAST
Gold Quantity : 37,600,000 Oz Gold
Location : New South Wales, AUSTRALIA.
In Cadia East, Gold was first discovered in the gold and copper bearing Cadia region in 1851 and Cadia East was discovered in 1994. Cadia East, owned by Australian major Newcrest. The other two mines are Cadia Hill and Ridgeway. Cadia Hill is a large open-pit mine nearing the end of its useful life just as the newly developed Cadia East recently began its expected 30 year mine life.
No. 10 : OBUASI
Gold Quantity : 29,830,000 Oz Gold
Location: GHANA, Western Africa.
Mining began at Obuasi more than 110 years ago, in 1897 when it was originally known as the Ashanti Mine. The underground operation extends to a depth of 1,500 meters or 4,900 feet (almost a mile).
