CHINA

Gold mining in China has recently made that country the world's largest gold
producer. For the year 2007, gold output rose 12% from 2006 to 276 tonnes (or 9.7
million ounces) to become the world's largest for the first time -- overtaking South
Africa, which produced 272 tonnes. South Africa had until then been the largest for
101 years straight since 1905. The major reasons for this change in position had
been due to South African production falling by 50% in the past decade as
production costs there have risen, more stringent safety regulations have been
implemented, and existing mines have become depleted.

On the other hand, gold output in China has risen by 70% for the past decade. In
recent years, China's gold mining industry has received increased foreign and
domestic investment, and project numbers have increased as more discoveries have
been found. China produced nearly 300 tonnes of gold in 2008. It is also the only
country in the top three where production rose in 2008.

The country's oldest and largest gold producer is the China National Gold Group
Corporation (CNGGC), which accounts for 20% of total gold production in
China and controls more than 30% of domestic reserves. CNGGC also controls
Zhongji Gold, the first publicly listed gold mining company in China.

Production and reserves

China's gold reserves are relatively small (about 7% of the world total). Production
has usually been concentrated in the eastern provinces of Shandong, Henan, Fujian
and Liaoning. Recently, western provinces such as Guizhou and Yunnan have seen
a sharp increase, but from a relatively small base.

Zhaoyuan, a Shandong provincial city of a population of 580,000, has more than

60 gold mines operating in the hills around the city. They annuall produce about
15% of China's total gold - the most in the country.
AUSTRALIA
Mining in Australia is a significant primary industry and contributor to the
Australian economy.

A number of large multinational mining companies including BHP Billiton,

Newcrest, Rio Tinto, Alcoa, Chalco, Shenhua (a Chinese mining company), Alcan
and Xstrata operate in Australia. There are also a lot of small mining and mineral
exploration companies listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX). Overall, the
resources sector represents almost 20% of the ASX market by capitalisation, and
almost one third of the companies listed.the mining sector employs only a small
proportion of the workforce - roughly 129,000 Australians, representing only
about 1.3% of the total labour force

Barrick Gold, Goldcorp, AngloGold Ashanti and Newmont Mining Corporation

are the world's four largest gold mining companies.

SOUTH AFRICA
Almost 50% of the world's gold reserves are found in South Africa. Among the
nation's gold mines are two of the deepest mines in the world. The East Rand
Mine, in Boksburg, extends to a depth of 3,585 metres (11,762 ft). A 4-metre
(13 ft) shallower mine is located at TauTona in Carletonville, though plans are in
place to begin work on an extension to the TauTona mine, bringing the total
depth to over 3,900 metres (12,800 ft) and breaking the current record by
127 feet (39 m).[12] At these depths the temperature of the rocks is 140 °F (60 °C)

Harmony produced 1.46 million ounces of gold, making it one of the world’s

largest gold mining companies. The group’s operations are located primarily on
the Witwatersrand Basin in South Africa, with a highly prospective exploration
portfolio and open-pit mining operation in Papua New Guinea.
U.S.
Most gold produced today in the US comes from large open-pit heap leach mines
in the state of Nevada. The US is a net exporter of gold.

Barrick gold and Newmont Minning Corporation are the two famous
companies of US.

RUSSIA
The gold mining company Polyus is facing the task of developing exploration in
the Krasnoyarsk Territory and other regions and has enough potential to do that.
The company will increase output in this region by 10-15 tones of gold due to
prospecting works. Several licensed districts for exploration are at the disposal of
Norilsk Nickel in Taimyr.

the allocation of gold mining in the Russian territories, the most productive region
is Magadan (33.5 tones in 2002), Krasnoyarsk Territory (29.3 tones), Yakutia (17.5
tones), Irkutsk Territory (16.3 tones), Khabarovsk Territory (15.3 tones) and Amur
region (12.7 tones).

PERU
The Yanacocha mine in the Peruvian Andes is the largest and most profitable gold
mine in Latin America. It was created with the support of the International
Finance Corporation (IFC) in 1993. The IFC subsequently backed several
expansions of the Yanacocha mine and owns 5% of the shares.

The mine produced 1.66 million ounces of gold in 1999 at a cost of $103 per
ounce, making it one of the largest and lowest-cost gold mines on the planet.

Yanacocha is a gold mine in northern Peru, considered to be the second largest

gold mine in the world, producing over US$7 billion worth of gold to date.
CANADA :
Barrick Gold company
Goldcorp is the lowest-cost and fastest growing senior gold producer with operations and development
projects situated in low political risk countries throughout the Americas.  
A Canadian company headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, Goldcorp employs more than 10,000 people
worldwide.

INDONESIA
The Grasberg Mine is the largest gold mine and the third largest copper mine in
the world. It is located in the province of Papua in Indonesia near Puncak Jaya, the
highest mountain in Papua, and it has 19,500 employees.

It is majority owned through a subsidiary by Freeport-McMoRan, based in the

United States (67.3%); along with its wholly owned subsidiary, PT Indocopper
Investama Corporation (9.3%); and the government of Indonesia (9.3%); and a
production-sharing joint venture with Rio Tinto Group (13%). The cost of building
a mine on the mountain was US$3 billion.

In 2006, it was estimated to have 2.8 billion tonnes of reserves graded at: 1.09%
copper, 0.98 grams/tonne gold and 3.87 grams/tonne silver.

The 2006 production was 610,800 tonnes of copper; 58,474,392 grams of gold;

and 174,458,971 grams of silver