The "richest" gold area depends on whether you mean largest deposits (reserves) or highest current production, but major gold-rich regions include Russia (Siberia), Australia (Western Australia), China (Hunan), and the USA (Nevada), hosting massive mines like Muruntau (Uzbekistan) and the Carlin Trend (USA) which contribute to the top gold-producing countries: China, Russia, and Australia.
The countries with the largest gold reserves, according to the most recent data (often updated to 2025 or 2024 depending on the source, and generally including only official reserves held by central banks), are: United States: with over 8,133 tonnes. Germany: with over 3,350 tonnes. Italy: with about 2,452 tonnes.
Countries such as Switzerland, Australia, and Canada are known for producing high-purity gold, while countries such as China and Russia are the largest producers of gold in the world. When it comes to jewelry, the purity and color of gold used can vary depending on the desired durability and aesthetic.
The following are the ten largest gold mines by production across the world in 2023, according to GlobalData's mining database.
China, Russia and Australia are the largest producers of gold in the world. Learn about these nations and the other top gold-mining countries here.
3) AUSTRALIA – 315.1 tonnes
Even with a fall of 12.7 tonnes in output for 2021, Australia's position as one of the Big Three gold producers globally remains untouched.
Introduction. In December 2024, the debate on metallic mining in El Salvador took a significant turn. President Nayib Bukele, through a series of posts on Twitter, claimed that the country has gold reserves valued at $3 trillion.
About The Super Pit
One of Australia's largest open pit gold mines. Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines (KCGM) Operation is a world class asset located adjacent to the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder approximately 600 kilometres east of Perth, Western Australia.
Indian Households Hold the World's Largest Private Gold Reserve 🇮🇳 📌Indian households own 25,488 tonnes of gold 🥇, making them the world's largest private holders of gold reserves.
The United States of America has the largest gold reserves in the world. It holds 8,133.46 metric tonnes of gold, closely equal to the combined reserves of the next three largest gold-holding countries, namely Germany, Italy, and France.
Considered by most authorities to be the biggest gold nugget ever found, the Welcome Stranger was found at Moliagul, Victoria, Australia in 1869 by John Deason and Richard Oates. It had a gross weight of over 2,520 troy ounces (78 kg; 173 lb) and returned over 2,284 troy ounces (71.0 kg; 156.6 lb) net.
Read on to learn about the top 10 gold reserves by country.
Key Takeaways
Russia and China have each added over 1,800 tonnes of gold to their reserves since 2000, more than triple the next highest country. Gold buying by central banks has surged in recent years as countries diversify away from the U.S. dollar and hedge against geopolitical risk.
1. United States. With the largest official holdings in the world, the U.S. lays claim to nearly as much gold as the next three countries combined. It also has the third highest gold allocation as a percentage of its foreign reserves.
Minerals are the property of the Crown. If you discover gold or other minerals or gemstones on land not covered by a mining tenement, and the ground is Crown land under the Act, then you are free to keep what you have found as long as you hold a Miner's Right.
The deepest mine in the world is AngloGold Ashanti's Mponeng gold mine, near Johannesburg in South Africa.
Quick Take: 10 Years of Investing in Gold
Ten years ago, the price of gold had an average closing price of $1,159 per ounce. Today, it's worth about $4,200 per ounce — a 262% increase in value. So, if you had invested $1,000 in gold a decade ago, it would be worth approximately $3,620 today.
The short answer is no, there is no federal limit on how much gold Americans can own today. You're legally free to purchase and hold as much physical gold as you want, whether in coins, bars, jewelry or other forms.
The WGC estimates that there are 54,000 tonnes of “below-ground gold reserves” waiting to be mined. These below-ground reserves account for less than 30 percent of what has already been mined. “World gold supplies are difficult to quantify.
Which country has the biggest unmined gold reserves? Australia is thought to have the biggest unmined gold reserves (estimated at 8,400 tonnes), followed by Russia in second place (6,800 tonnes) and South Africa in third place (5,000 tonnes).
In Australia this concentration of gold took place in the Earth hundreds of millions of years ago in the eastern states, and thousands of millions of years ago in Western Australia. As well as gold, the fluids can carry other dissolved minerals, such as quartz. This is why gold is often found with quartz.
The ASX has some of the best mining companies in the world, key among them the two largest by market capitalisation – BHP Group with a market cap of $204 billion dollars and RioTinto with a market cap of $43.9 billion.