In which country is the largest gold mine located?

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. It has 19,500 employees. It is mostly owned by Freeport-McMoRan (FCX), which owns 90.64% of PT Freeport Indonesia, the principal operating subsidiary in Indonesia, including 9.36% owned through its wholly owned subsidiary, PT Indocopper Investama. The government of Indonesia owns the remaining 9.36% of PT Freeport Indonesia. FCX operates under an agreement with the government of Indonesia, which allows Freeport to conduct exploration, mining and production activities in a 27,400-acre area (Block A). It also conducts exploration activities in an 413,000-acre area (Block B). All of Freeport's proven and probable mineral reserves and current mining operations are located in Block A. The 2006 production was 610,800 tonnes of copper; 58,474,392 grams of gold; and 174,458,971 grams of silver.

More Info: en.m.wikipedia.org

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11 Comments

Richard D. Boyle

When only 11% come up with the “right” answer, there is something seriously wrong with the question. In this case, I believe it is the slippery definition of “largest”.

Cheryl Dunn

Australia – 10,000 tonnes. Australia is way out in front as the country with the largest gold mine reserves in the world at 10,000 tonnes. ...Indonesia – 2,600 tonnes.

Lynda Flanger

South Africa. According to mining technology.com South Deep is the largest gold miners n the world. There may be an as of year missing in the question that leads to the ambiguity.

klmilles

Would also benefit from a date stamp since things change over time.

Babita Goyal

"The Grasberg mine has one of the largest reserves of gold and copper in the world.[2][3] It is located in Mimika Regency, Central Papua, Indonesia near Puncak Jaya. It is operated by PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI, see below), a joint venture between the government of Indonesia, government of Papua, and American company Freeport-McMoRan (FCX)." From the source quoted in the answer. I assume that the writer as well as moderators are intelligent enough to understand difference between the largest and one of the largest. If not, better they learn it before coming up with a wrong explanation.

Stevie G

There is nothing in your reference that says it is the largest gold mine in the world. It seems that South Deep gold mine, South Africa is the largest gold mine in the world.

Little boy joe

Just wondering if the answer was based off of size of mine or amount of gold produced? Because Uzbekistan is the largest in terms of production. It didn’t even make your list.

Denise Currie

I went with the least obvious one listed as I thought the largest was in Uzbekistan

Jhan Schmitz

Muruntau, Uzbekistan. The Muruntau mine in Uzbekistan is the largest gold mine in the world in terms of production. In a single year, Muruntau produces over 2 million ounces of gold. -2021 statistics