Infographic: Gold and silver producers vs reserves

The ranks of the world’s top precious metal producing countries are subject to change over time, one factor being economically mineable reserves. South Africa, for example, was the world’s top gold producer in 1993. But its output had declined about 83% by 2023 as it used up more reserves and it became more expensive to dig deeper to extract more gold. The Northern Miner takes a look at the world’s top five gold and silver producers in 2023* and how much geological precious metal reserves they have left.

*data for 2024 production and reserves wasn’t yet available at press time