This underground reserves gold According to the United States Geological Survey, the amount of gold currently available on the planet, that is, economically possible to mine, 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, depending on the source consulted, it points to the second number in the World Gold Council statistics. Almost half of the mined comes from a single mining site in South Africa. Witwatersrand.
This is a region containing some of the most important gold deposits on the planet. The discovery of this mineral took place in 1886, when Australian gold prospector George Harrison found a gold bulge, thus initiating 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.
Many 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 above the ground.
Almost 50% of the gold mined from the world comes from this South African regionThis has greatly affected the country’s economy. Other sources put it down to 30%, but in any case, this is where the most gold has ever been found on Earth.
Although the importance of this gold-bearing region is not as much as before, it still continues to be an important gold-producing area.
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 led to 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,” said Hannah Brandstaetter, spokesperson for the World Gold Council, suggesting that it may be a little early for production to peak.
According to the BBC, expert Ross Norman from metaldaily.com says: “Mining production has stabilized and likely to follow a downward trendbut not dramatically downward.
But still thinking 20% of the reserves continue to operate, and it is hoped that new technologies will make it possible to take advantage of some of the recently discovered deposits, but due to their location or other factors their extraction is not currently viable.
Currently about 60% of the world’s mineral extraction is carried out in open pit mines.The rest is done in underground mines. “Mining is becoming increasingly difficult as large, low-cost mines and older mines such as those in South Africa are on the verge of extinction,” adds Norman. “Gold mines in China are much smaller and therefore more costly.”
Few regions remain unexplored for gold mining, and the most promising ones appear in politically unstable parts of the world, such as West Africa.
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