Worldwide Gold Perspective:
Official Gold Reserves (Countries and Banks as of March 2005) = est. 31,423 tons, Privately held = est. 22,000 tons, Other fabrications = est. 16,500 tons, Lost or unaccounted = est. 3,500 tons, Jewelry Worldwide = est. 72,000 tons.
So who are the real gold producers of the world? Global production of gold - that is from the beginning of human presence on Earth - is about 153,000 tons. About 63% of that has been mined since 1950.
Yearly global extraction of gold from mining enterprises is close to 2,500 tons. Officially it was 2,484 tons in 2004. That is what has been extracted and accounted for by statutory government recording sources.
South Africa remains the world’s largest producer of gold, with just over 344 tones and 14% of global production. The US produced almost 262 tones (11%), followed by Australia with 258 tones. The most spectacular rises in output over the past decade have come from Indonesia , which in 1992 produced just 2 tones of gold but in 2004 produced almost 114 tones (183 tones in 2001).
Emerging Second and Third world countries hold the key to future rises in global production of gold. It is interesting to know that over 51% of all gold mined in a single year are consumed in jewelry. India consumed over 520 tones in 2004 for jewelry alone. Second in jewelry was the USA , consuming 350 tones. With emerging nations, such as China, who produces jewelry at almost 24 carat (pure gold) global demand is certain to continue to place pressure on demand for more gold.
