Precious Metals
July 17, 2024
2 min
Precious Metals
Ranked: Large Gold Deposits and Projects
This graphic highlights some of the world's largest gold deposits and projects, detailing their grade, location, ownership, and development stage. Note that some deposits are categorized by resource classification (43-101 based resources) while others combine all categories (JORC based resources).
Top 3 Largest Gold Deposits:
- KSM: Located in British Columbia, Canada, KSM is the world's largest undeveloped gold project. It holds 88.7 million ounces in the measured and indicated category and 71.5 million ounces in the inferred category, totaling 160.2 million ounces. The project also contains significant copper, silver, and molybdenum and is currently in the development stage, with a pre-feasibility study released in 2022.
- Olympic Dam: Owned by BHP, this massive deposit in South Australia is one of the world's largest and most significant ore bodies, containing vast quantities of copper, uranium, gold, and silver. The deposit includes 88.4 million ounces of gold across all categories and is currently in production.
- Pebble: Located in Alaska, Pebble is one of the largest undeveloped copper and gold projects, also containing substantial molybdenum and silver resources. It has 53.8 million ounces of gold in the measured and indicated category and 28.1 million ounces in the inferred category, totaling 81.9 million ounces. The project is in the development stage but faces significant opposition from environmental groups, indigenous communities, and commercial fishing interests due to potential ecosystem impacts, particularly on salmon habitats.
Considering Grade:
While the top three deposits are notable for their size, their average gold grades are relatively low. For instance, the Sukhoi Log deposit contains 67 million ounces with an average grade of 1.9 g/t, nearly four times that of KSM (0.51 g/t) and almost eight times that of Olympic Dam.
The highest-grade deposits on this list are Mponeng, Tshepong South, and South Deep, all located in South Africa. Mponeng stands out with an impressive average grade of 13.13 g/t and 26.4 million ounces. Tshepong South has a grade of 11.24 g/t and 15.9 million ounces, while South Deep, despite a significantly lower grade of 4.93 g/t, holds 28.2 million ounces.
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