Regardless of how the gold price is doing, the top gold-mining companies are always making moves.
Right now, the yellow metal is in the limelight — stimulated by increasing global inflation, geopolitical turmoil and recession fears, the price of gold set records in 2024, breaking through the US$2,400 per ounce mark.
Rising demand for gold alongside concerns over gold mine supply have pushed the metal to record highs in recent years, and market watchers are eyeing world’s top gold-mining companies to see how they respond to market dynamics.
According to the most recent US Geological Survey data, gold production came in at 3,000 metric tons in 2023. China, Australia and Russia were the top three countries to produce gold last year.
But what were the top gold-mining companies by production in 2023? The list below was compiled by the team at LSEG, a leading financial markets data provider, with numbers reported in US tons.
Read on to find out which companies produced the most gold this past year.
1. Newmont (TSX:NGT,NYSE:NEM)
Production: 172.3 tons
Newmont was the largest of the top gold-mining companies in 2023. The firm holds significant operations in North and South America, as well as Asia, Australia and Africa. Newmont produced 172.3 tons of gold in 2023.
In early 2019, the miner acquired Goldcorp in a US$10 billion deal, and followed that up by starting a joint venture with Barrick Gold (TSX:ABX,NYSE:GOLD) called Nevada Gold Mines. Nevada Gold Mines is 38.5 percent owned by Newmont and 61.5 percent owned by Barrick, which is also the operator. Considered the world’s biggest gold complex, Nevada Gold Mines was the top-producing gold operation in 2022 with output of 94.2 metric tons.
In 2023, Newmont added to its portfolio when it merged with Australia’s Newcrest Mining in a blockbuster US$16.8 billion deal, becoming the largest gold-mining company in the world. Newcrest’s production in 2022 was 67.3 metric tons of gold.
Newmont’s gold production guidance for 2024 is set at 6.9 million ounces of gold, or 215.6 tons.
2. Barrick Gold (TSX:ABX,NYSE:GOLD)
Production: 126 tons
Barrick Gold lands in second place on this list of top gold producers.
The company has been active on the M&A front in the last five years — in addition to merging its Nevada assets with Newmont in 2019, the company closed its acquisition of Randgold Resources the prior year.
Aside from Nevada Gold Mines, the major gold company also holds the Pueblo Viejo mine in the Dominican Republic and the Loulo-Gounkoto mine in Mali, which respectively produced 335,000 ounces and 547,000 ounces of gold in 2023.
In its annual report for 2023, Barrick notes that its full-year gold production saw a 2 percent decrease from the previous year. The company attributed this shortfall to lower production at the Carlin mine due to the closure of the Gold Quarry concentrator at the beginning of the year, and to the conversion of Goldstrike’s autoclave to a conventional carbon-in-leach process. Further compounding the shortfall was the processing of lower-grade material at Pueblo Viejo and lower recoveries following delayed commissioning of the expanded processing plant.
Barrick has set its 2023 production guidance at 3.9 million to 4.3 million ounces (121.9 to 134.4 tons).
3. Agnico Eagle Mines (TSX:AEM,NYSE:AEM)
Production: 106.8 tons
Agnico Eagle Mines produced 106.8 tons of gold in 2023 to take the third spot on this top 10 gold companies list.
The company has 11 operating mines in Canada, Australia, Finland and Mexico, including 100 percent ownership of two of the world’s top gold-producing mines — the Canadian Malartic mine in Québec and the Detour Lake mine in Ontario — which it acquired from Yamana Gold (TSX:YRI,NYSE:AUY) in early 2023.
The Canadian gold miner achieved record annual production in 2023, and also increased its gold reserves by 10.5 percent to 53.8 million ounces of gold (1.29 million metric tons grading 1.3 grams per metric ton gold). Its gold production for 2024 is expected to reach 3.35 million to 3.55 million ounces (104.7 to 110.9 tons). Based on its near-term expansion plans, Agnico Eagle is forecasting production levels of 3.4 million to 3.6 million ounces in 2025 and 2026.
4. Polyus (LSE:PLZL,MCX:PLZL)
Production: 90.3 tons
Polyus produced 90.3 tons of gold in 2023 to take fourth place among the top 10 gold-mining companies. It is the largest gold producer in Russia and holds the highest proven and probable gold reserves globally at more than 101 million ounces.
Polyus has six operating mines located in Eastern Siberia and the Russian Far East, including Olimpiada, which ranks as the world’s third largest gold mine by production. The company expects to produce approximately 2.7 million to 2.8 million ounces (84.4 to 87.5 tons) of gold in 2024.
5. Navoi Mining and Metallurgical Company
Production: 88.9 tons
Navoi Mining and Metallurgical Company is not yet listed on western exchanges, but ranks among the top producers of gold in the world, producing 88.9 tons of the precious metal in 2023.
The company has been in operation since the 1960s, producing its first gold ingot in 1969 from its Muruntau mine. Muruntau is the fifth deepest open-pit mine in the world, and hosts one of the single largest deposits of gold.
The company is working to expand its production to over 3 million ounces of gold per year and expects to achieve that goal in 2025. In 2024, the company has an exploration budget of over US$100 million.
6. AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU,ASX:AGG)
Production: 82 tons
Producing 82 tons of gold in 2023, AngloGold Ashanti has nine gold operations in seven countries across three continents, as well as numerous exploration projects around the world. The bulk of AngloGold’s production came from its African operations, which produced 1.54 million ounces, 59 percent of the company’s total production, in 2023.
In 2023, the company saw a slight decline in gold production. It fell 3 percent to hit 2.59 million ounces, down from 2.67 million ounces in 2022. Despite the decrease, production came in above AngloGold’s guidance range.
7. Gold Fields (NYSE:GFI)
Production: 71.7 tons
Gold Fields comes in at number seven with gold production for 2023 totaling 71.7 tons. The company is a globally diversified gold producer with nine operating mines in Australia, Chile, Peru, West Africa and South Africa.
Gold Fields and AngloGold Ashanti recently joined forces to combine their Ghana exploration holdings and create what the companies claim will be Africa’s biggest gold mine. The joint venture has the potential to produce an annual average of 900,000 ounces (or 28.1 tons) of gold over its first five years of operation.
The company’s output guidance for 2024 is in the range of 2.33 million to 2.43 million ounces, or 72.8 to 75.9 tons.
8. Kinross Gold (TSX:K,NYSE:KGC)
Production: 67 tons
Kinross Gold has six mining operations across the Americas (Brazil, Chile, Canada and the US) and East Africa (Mauritania). Its largest producing mines are the Tasiast gold mine in Mauritania and the Paracatu gold mine in Brazil.
In 2023, Kinross produced 67 tons of gold, up 10 percent from its 2022 production level. The company attributed this increase to higher production levels at its La Coipa mine in Chile, as well as to higher mill grades at Tasiast.
9. Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX)
Production: 62 tons
Better known for its copper production, Freeport-McMoRan produced 62 tons of gold in 2023. The vast majority originated from the company’s Grasberg mine in Indonesia, which is the world’s second largest gold mine by production.
In its 2023 results, Freeport-McMoRan states that long-term mine development activities are ongoing at Grasberg’s Kucing Liar deposit. The company anticipates that the deposit will ultimately produce more than 7 billion pounds of copper and 6 million ounces of gold between 2029 and the end of 2041.
10. Solidcore Resources (AIX:CORE)
Production: 53.72 tons
Formerly known as Polymetal International, Solidcore Resources is a gold-producing company with two operating mines in Kazakhstan. The company had several more operational assets in Russia, but sold them off during the first quarter of this year, a move that will significantly reduce its output in 2024.
Including its Russian mines, the company produced 1.71 million ounces of gold in 2023, but saw decreases at its core Kazakh operations of Kyzyl and Varvara due to reduced grading. Solidcore’s guidance for 2024 is expected to come to around 475,000 ounces of gold equivalent from its remaining assets, which produced 486,000 ounces in 2023.
Though production at its principal operations declined last year, the company’s ore reserves in Kazakhstan increased by 3 percent during the period to reach to 11.6 million gold equivalent ounces.
Securities Disclosure: I, Dean Belder, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.