South Africa
South Africa holds 35% of global gold resources and exports 99% of gold output. Gold is the most important mining sector, contributing 27.4% in mineral revenues and employing 56% of the mine labour force.
South Africa’s gold production has been declining steadily, with an annual decrease of around 4% since 1990, and in 2001 production was 394 t, down from 2000's 428 tonnes. Grades remained basically the same at around 5.1 g/t. Although production has been dropping fast, the industry has undergone some major changes to improve productivity and reduce costs. Evidence of this is shown by the dramatic decrease in working costs from a weighted average cost of over $US 300 / oz down to $US 246 / oz. The cost of production in the USA is $US 189 / oz and in Canada $US 169 / oz.
The last few years have seen some major restructuring of South Africa’s major gold producers with AngloGold, recently listed on the LSE and NYSE, and Gold Fields having become the countries major producers. Other major producers in South Africa are Harmony, Durban Roodepoort Deep, ARM Gold and Avgold.
South Africa’s gold production has been declining steadily, with an annual decrease of around 4% since 1990, and in 2001 production was 394 t, down from 2000's 428 tonnes. Grades remained basically the same at around 5.1 g/t. Although production has been dropping fast, the industry has undergone some major changes to improve productivity and reduce costs. Evidence of this is shown by the dramatic decrease in working costs from a weighted average cost of over $US 300 / oz down to $US 246 / oz. The cost of production in the USA is $US 189 / oz and in Canada $US 169 / oz.
The last few years have seen some major restructuring of South Africa’s major gold producers with AngloGold, recently listed on the LSE and NYSE, and Gold Fields having become the countries major producers. Other major producers in South Africa are Harmony, Durban Roodepoort Deep, ARM Gold and Avgold.
Ghana is Africa’s second largest gold producer, producing just over 72t gold in 2001, down slightly from the previous year.
Zimbabwe produced 18t of gold in 2001, marking an ongoing decline in production as a result of political and social unrest in the country. The structure of the Zimbabwe gold mining industry comprises several small operations centered on central Zimbabwean Archaean greenstone terranes. Gold is Zimbabwe’s principal mined export.
As in Mali, Tanzania is rapidly becoming an emerging gold producer in Africa. Gold production doubled to 34 t in 2001, following the development of new mines by Barrick, Anglo Gold, Ashanti Gold and East African Gold Mines..
Guinea produces approximately 10 t gold each year, with production expected to rise slightly following expansions and development of new projects in the country.
Mali is rapidly becoming a major producer of gold with several new mines being developed by Anglogold and Randgold Resources. Mali produced 41 t of gold in 2001, up significantly from previous years. The majority of this production is sourced from 3 large scale open cast operations.
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