I suggest you amend the article. Newmont never had any ownership in the Muruntau Mine or operational influence. Newmont had a joint venture for processing low grade dumps. The increase in production from the mine and its modernization using Western equipment is an Uzbek achievement. It is rather pushing it to say that Newmont was expropriated. New management (Pierre Lassonde) at Newmont wanted to exit all investments in the former Soviet Union and refused to negotiate with the Uzbeks on some points. The dumps project was in any event reaching the end of its life and a dispute with the Uzbeks was not a bad exit for Newmont. The Uzbek Government paid Newmont compensation for assets involved in the dispute.
Jeremy Burton
What about Kalgoorlie’s Golden Mile, last time I checked its resources (mined and unmined) was around +70Moz, surely such a deposit deserves an honourable mention at the absolute least? Plus there is Olympic Dam < 80Moz - bound to end up being the largest mine int the world - once they actually find the edges of it 🙂
Dave G.
You have also omitted the Goldstrike mine on the Carlin Trend in Nevada, which at 45+M ounces would fall squarely into the middle of your list.
Go Joe
These are all “SCABS” on the BUTT of our planet, we should be ashamsd of what we have done. Some day it will catch up with us……….
akg
It’s very much a truism, that most of the Really big gold deposits are these big multi-element deposits. Penasquito, Metates, Red Chris, Pebble, Bingham Canyon, Batu Haju etc… Very surprised Escondida didn’t make the list. Even though it’s 0.25 G/t Au It’s well over 11 Billion tonnes (~ 89 million oz).
pm
very rough (lazy) maths here….seems like a lot of gold but lets say10 mines each with 100 million ounces of AU each, equals approx. 1billion ounces of gold about to be extracted in the next couple of decades. approx. 177,000 tonnes of gold already in human hands. Divide all that by 7billion humans….still less than 1 troy ounce per person alive today. Just my thoughts
pm
I meant that last comment to say ” let ME just do some lazy maths here”.
I enjoyed the article and the comments as well
Muhammed Aki
To bad we are still mining for the Anunnaki. To us, its a useless metal.
Gerald
our natural resources but our lives have been looted by others.
let us live alone and manage our wealth.
freedom of Papua
M. Philip Oliver
Have just finished “Savage Harvest”; 2014: 995.1 Hoffman (dewey#); Carl (@lunaticcarl) Hoffman, about the Michael Rockefeller story; “A tale of Cannibal’s, Colonialism, and Michael Rockefeller’s Tragic Quest For Primitive Art”…THESE Peoples; i.e. The Native Papua New Guinean’s have been exploited for probably as long as history exist. They have been misunderstood, maligned, mis-managed, lied about and basically screwed since (apparently) 1930, when the 1st “White man” may have stepped on their foreboding terrain. The fact that they, as a Culture have (not conquered) learned to live with their external element is in itself quite the “miracle”. European people could NOT have succeeded there, not at all. And now we come into the 21st century and the Indonesian “Government” has again extended the hand of exploitation to their vast but disappearing mineral resources. God only know’s how many politicians and government stooges got paid off on this deal with Freeport Mc Moran et al. Will the Native People’s ever see one dime of this deed of greed?? Not likely to not at all, and yet economically they are greatly disadvantaged when compared to so-called civilized society. maybe they just desire to be left alone, albeit men of conscience should join hand’s and help them redress their unheard grievances. Certainly the Vatican and/or Pope wouldn’t have any interest in this aspect of righting the wrongs.What’s the Value of this Gold-extraction? One trillion American dollars???
waleed khalid
fifth largest gold mine is the reko deq
Andre Schurmann
Freeport McMoRan is the most lucky mining company in the world which they are almost bankrupt, then found the pot in the edge of rainbow. Look there how greed this company just share their profit to indonesia only 1% that has value till 100billion rupiahs per year, no stop mining, but look at the society uneducated, poverty and starving plague had suffered by natives, no wonder many separatist movement in Papua.
12 Comments
Frederick Darby
I suggest you amend the article. Newmont never had any ownership in the Muruntau Mine or operational influence. Newmont had a joint venture for processing low grade dumps. The increase in production from the mine and its modernization using Western equipment is an Uzbek achievement. It is rather pushing it to say that Newmont was expropriated. New management (Pierre Lassonde) at Newmont wanted to exit all investments in the former Soviet Union and refused to negotiate with the Uzbeks on some points. The dumps project was in any event reaching the end of its life and a dispute with the Uzbeks was not a bad exit for Newmont. The Uzbek Government paid Newmont compensation for assets involved in the dispute.
Jeremy Burton
What about Kalgoorlie’s Golden Mile, last time I checked its resources (mined and unmined) was around +70Moz, surely such a deposit deserves an honourable mention at the absolute least? Plus there is Olympic Dam < 80Moz - bound to end up being the largest mine int the world - once they actually find the edges of it 🙂
Dave G.
You have also omitted the Goldstrike mine on the Carlin Trend in Nevada, which at 45+M ounces would fall squarely into the middle of your list.
Go Joe
These are all “SCABS” on the BUTT of our planet, we should be ashamsd of what we have done. Some day it will catch up with us……….
akg
It’s very much a truism, that most of the Really big gold deposits are these big multi-element deposits. Penasquito, Metates, Red Chris, Pebble, Bingham Canyon, Batu Haju etc… Very surprised Escondida didn’t make the list. Even though it’s 0.25 G/t Au It’s well over 11 Billion tonnes (~ 89 million oz).
pm
very rough (lazy) maths here….seems like a lot of gold but lets say10 mines each with 100 million ounces of AU each, equals approx. 1billion ounces of gold about to be extracted in the next couple of decades. approx. 177,000 tonnes of gold already in human hands. Divide all that by 7billion humans….still less than 1 troy ounce per person alive today. Just my thoughts
pm
I meant that last comment to say ” let ME just do some lazy maths here”.
I enjoyed the article and the comments as well
Muhammed Aki
To bad we are still mining for the Anunnaki. To us, its a useless metal.
Gerald
our natural resources but our lives have been looted by others.
let us live alone and manage our wealth.
freedom of Papua
M. Philip Oliver
Have just finished “Savage Harvest”; 2014: 995.1 Hoffman (dewey#); Carl (@lunaticcarl) Hoffman, about the Michael Rockefeller story; “A tale of Cannibal’s, Colonialism, and Michael Rockefeller’s Tragic Quest For Primitive Art”…THESE Peoples; i.e. The Native Papua New Guinean’s have been exploited for probably as long as history exist. They have been misunderstood, maligned, mis-managed, lied about and basically screwed since (apparently) 1930, when the 1st “White man” may have stepped on their foreboding terrain. The fact that they, as a Culture have (not conquered) learned to live with their external element is in itself quite the “miracle”. European people could NOT have succeeded there, not at all. And now we come into the 21st century and the Indonesian “Government” has again extended the hand of exploitation to their vast but disappearing mineral resources. God only know’s how many politicians and government stooges got paid off on this deal with Freeport Mc Moran et al. Will the Native People’s ever see one dime of this deed of greed?? Not likely to not at all, and yet economically they are greatly disadvantaged when compared to so-called civilized society. maybe they just desire to be left alone, albeit men of conscience should join hand’s and help them redress their unheard grievances. Certainly the Vatican and/or Pope wouldn’t have any interest in this aspect of righting the wrongs.What’s the Value of this Gold-extraction? One trillion American dollars???
waleed khalid
fifth largest gold mine is the reko deq
Andre Schurmann
Freeport McMoRan is the most lucky mining company in the world which they are almost bankrupt, then found the pot in the edge of rainbow. Look there how greed this company just share their profit to indonesia only 1% that has value till 100billion rupiahs per year, no stop mining, but look at the society uneducated, poverty and starving plague had suffered by natives, no wonder many separatist movement in Papua.