The gold price has been on a ride so far this year, with gains made as geopolitical tensions boosted global demand for the safe haven metal, and losses logged as the Federal Reserve resolved to keep raising interest rates to get inflation under control.
The precious metal has been hailed as a hedge against inflation, but the chief executive of the world’s top gold producer, Tom Palmer, holds a conservative view on the gold price, saying gold is a store of wealth for millennia in a transparent and highly regulated market.
In a snapshot of the world’s gold supply, Miningintelligence data provides a ranking of the largest gold producers in the first half of 2022, based on reported production in kilo troy ounces (koz). The ranking excludes Russian producers, which stopped reporting results since the invasion of Ukraine. On last year’s ranking Moscow-headquartered Polyus held the number three position, and St. Petersburg’s Polymetal held number nine.
US based Newmont is in top spot, reporting 2,758 koz of gold produced in the first half of the year. Newmont has operations in Africa, Australia, South America and the US – where Nevada Gold Mines, the world’s largest gold mining complex, is a joint venture with Barrick Gold.
In second place is Canada’s Barrick, which produced 2,099 koz of gold in H122 from its global operations. Barrick’s CEO Mark Bristow said this month that inflation “isn’t going away in a hurry” and has famously called for the industry to consolidate.
Agnico Eagle, which closed a $10 billion merger with Kirkland Lake Gold early this year, takes third place, with 1,547 koz of gold produced from its operations in Canada, Australia, Finland and Mexico. Following the merger to the two Canadian companies, Agnico continued to operate under the same same.
Johannesburg-headquartered Goldfields produced 1,129 koz of gold from its operations in Africa, Australia and Peru. Goldfields grabbed headlines this year when it announced it was buying Canada’s Yamana Gold in an all-share deal worth $6.7 billion, which makes it the world’s fourth largest gold producer.
In fifth place is South Africa’s Anglogold Ashanti, which produced 1,110 koz of gold in the fist half from its operations in Africa, Australia and the Americas. Early this year shareholders of Canada’s Corvus Gold voted in favour of AngloGold Ashanti taking control of the company in a deal estimated at $370 million.
Australia’s biggest gold miner, Newcrest, is the sixth largest producer with 1,097 koz produced at its operations in the home country, Papua New Guinea and Canada. Late last year, Newcrest acquired Pretium Resources in a $2.8 billion deal, making it the owner of Brucejack in British Columbia, one of the world’s highest grade gold mines.
Canada’s Kinross Gold is number seven, producing 824 koz of gold from its operations in the Americas and Mauritania in the first half 2022. Kinross suspended its operations in Russia in early March to comply with Western sanctions against Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine. In June, Kinross sold the Kupol mine and Udinsk project to Highland Gold Mining for $340 million.
Australia’s Northern Star Resources produced 791 koz of gold from its operations in Australia and Alaska. In 2020, Northern Star bought Newmont’s 50% stake in Western Australia’s Kalgoorlie iconic Super Pit mine and its associated assets for $775 million.
Endeavour Mining is the only European miner to make our list – the UK company produced 734 koz of gold from its mines in Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Senegal. In April, Endeavour said it will proceed with the expansion of the Sabodala-Massawa mine complex in Senegal.
Rounding out the top 10 is South Africa’s Harmony Gold, which produced 691 koz of gold from its assets in the home country and Papua New Guinea. In June, Harmony Gold started construction of three 10 megawatt solar photovoltaic plants in South Africa.
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