This underground reserves gold According to the United States Geological Survey, the amount of gold currently on the planet, meaning it can be economically mined, is just over 50,000 tons. However Throughout history, the amount extracted to date in all countries varies between 100,000 and 200,000 tons.Although the World Gold Council points to the second figure in statistics, depending on the source referenced. Almost half of the extraction comes from a single mining region located in South Africa. Witwatersrand.
This is a region that contains some of the most important gold deposits on the planet. The discovery of this mineral took place in 1886 when George Harrison, an Australian gold prospector, found a gold bulge and thus started a gold rush in the area. As a result, not only did thousands of callers come to South Africa, but The city of Johannesburg was foundedlargest in the country.
Several important gold mines operate in the Witwatersand basin, such as ls Mponeng, Tautona or Kromdraai. Mponeng is considered the deepest mine in the world, as it exceeds 4 kilometers deep into the ground.
Almost 50% of all gold mined from the world comes from this South African region.greatly affected the country’s economy. Other sources put this percentage down to 30%, but in any case, this is where the most gold has ever been on Earth.
Although the importance of this gold-bearing region is not what it used to be, it still continues to be an important gold-producing region.
Stagnant production on the planet
World gold production in recent years stabilized. The depletion of increasingly scarce and inaccessible reserves, the need to dig deeper, and many other economic, labor and legal factors have resulted in the closure of many mines.
“Supply growth may slow or decline slightly in the coming years as existing reserves are depleted and new discoveries become increasingly rare, suggesting that it may be a little early for production to peak,” said Hannah Brandstaetter, spokesperson for the World Gold Council.
According to the BBC, metaldaily.com expert Ross Norman says for himself: “Mining production has stabilized and likely to be in a downtrendbut not significantly down.
But still thinking 20% of the reserves continue to be used, and it is hoped that new technologies will make it possible to exploit some of the recently discovered deposits, but these are not currently possible to extract due to location or other factors.
Currently, approximately 60% of the world’s mining is done in open pit mines.the rest is done in underground mines. “Mining is getting harder as large, low-cost mines like those in South Africa and older mines are on the verge of extinction,” Norman adds. “Chinese gold mines are much smaller and therefore have higher costs.”
Few regions remain unexplored for gold mining, and the most promising ones seem to be politically unstable regions of the world such as West Africa.
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