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Top 10 Largest Gold Mines in Africa: A Look at Reported Production in 2022

A gold mine is a location where gold is extracted from the earth. It can be an underground mine or an open-pit mine, where gold ore is extracted from the ground and then processed to extract the gold metal. Gold mines can be found all over the world, with some of the largest and most productive mines located in South Africa, Australia, and the United States. Gold mining has been a lucrative industry for centuries, and continues to be an important source of wealth and economic growth in many countries.

Kitco ranked the top 10 largest gold mines in Africa based on reported production in 2022.

1. Kibali, DRC. 750 koz. Kibali is one of the largest gold mines of its kind in Africa, is situated in the DRC, adjacent to the town of Doko and 210km from Arua on the Ugandan border.Kibali is co-owned by AngloGold Ashanti (45%), Barrick Gold Corporation(45%) and SOKIMO (10%), a state-owned gold mining company.The consolidated lease is made up of 10 mining concessions. The metallurgical plant comprises a twin-circuit sulphide and oxide plant with conventional carbon-in-leach (CIL), including gravity recovery as well as a float and ultra-fine grind circuit.Barrick operates the mine which comprises both open pit and underground operations.
On 15 October 2009, AngloGold Ashanti acquired a 50% indirect interest in Moto Goldmines Limited through a JV with Randgold, with Moto holding a 70% stake in Kibali and the balance (30%) being held by the DRC parastatal, SOKIMO.
On 21 December 2009, Randgold and AngloGold Ashanti increased their JV interest in Kibali to 90%, while SOKIMO retained a 10% holding. On 2 January 2019, Randgold merged with Barrick and their portion of the JV is now with the combined company, trading as Barrick.
The first gold was poured in September 2013 from the open pit operations and development of the underground mine began the same year.
First underground ore from development was also mined in 2013 and stoping began in 2015.
Initial production was truck hauled by a twin decline to surface. In 2017, the haulage shaft (740m deep) and materials handling system were commissioned.
Ore production ramped-up to 3.8Mt in 2022.

2. Loulo-Gounkoto, Mali. 684 koz. The Loulo-Gounkoto complex comprises two distinct mining permits, Loulo and Gounkoto, and is situated in western Mali, bordering Senegal and adjacent to the Falémé River. Société des Mines de Loulo SA (Loulo) owns the Loulo gold mine, and Société des Mines de Gounkoto (Gounkoto) owns the Gounkoto gold mine. Both Loulo and Gounkoto are owned by Barrick (80%), and the State of Mali (20%).
Loulo commenced operations in November 2005 and began as two open pit mines. Subsequently, two underground mines have been developed at the Gara and Yalea deposits. The Yalea mine utilises sub-level open stoping and Gara utilises the reverse Avoca mining method. The process plant comprises a conventional carbon-in-leach (CIL) circuit designed to process an average of 4.8Mt/a.

3. Fekola, Mali. 599 koz. B2Gold’s Fekola mine is located in southwestern Mali on the border between Mali and Senegal, about 210 km south of Kayes and approximately 40 km south of the city of Kéniéba. The Fekola deposit and Anaconda area are hosted in Birimian Supergroup rocks within the eastern portion of the Paleo-Proterozoic Kédougou–Kéniéba inlier, which covers eastern Senegal and western Mali.
B2Gold is developing the Fekola gold deposit located within the Kayes region in south-western Mali, Africa.
B2Gold initially acquired a 90% interest in Songhoi Resources SARL (Songhoi), the Malian holding company of the project, through the acquisition of Papillon in October 2014 and the remaining 10% interest in Songhoi in January 2015 from Mani SARL (Mani).
Construction of the gold project started in February 2015, and was successfully completed in September 2017. First gold pour was achieved in October 2017, and the project achieved commercial production in November 2017.
The Fekola mine produced 111,450oz of gold in 2017, and is estimated to produce between 400,000oz and 410,000oz of gold in 2018.
A new life of mine plan was announced in September 2017, under which the Fekola project is estimated to operate at 5Mtpa for ten years. The plan envisages the production of approximately 400,000oz of gold annually for the first three years, and approximately 374,000oz of gold per annum for the first seven years.

4. Ahafo, Ghana. 574 koz. Newmont’s Ahafo mine is located along the Sefwi Volcanic Belt, a northeast-southwest trending volcanic belt in Ghana. The mine is in the Ahafo region, approximately 307 Kilometers northwest from the national capital city of Accra. Commercial production at Ahafo began in 2006. Ahafo has two primary ore zones: Ahafo South and Ahafo North. Mining is currently underway at Ahafo South. In November 2018, Subika, a new underground mine which was completed on schedule and within budget, achieved commercial production, adding higher-grade, lower cost gold production at Ahafo south.
Ahafo began commercial production in 2006 and operates both surface and underground mines.

5. Tasiast, Mauritania. 539 koz. The Tasiast gold mine has been operated since 2010 by Kinross Gold Corporation through its wholly owned subsidiary Tasiast Mauritania Limited SA (TMLSA).
Located in the middle of large desert expanses, 300 kilometers northeast of Nouakchott in the Inchiri region, Tasiast is an open-pit mine. The gold contained in the ore mined from the pits is recovered through a processing plant and heap leach facilities. Tasiast’s proven and probable gold reserves are estimated at 6330 million ounces of gold (just over 179.5 tonnes).
More than 3,480 people work permanently at Tasiast for TMLSA and its contractors. More than 97% of TMLSA workers are Mauritanians. Teams trained in all trades of the mining industry operate there day and night, seven days a week, to extract the precious yellow metal. In 2020, the mine’s production was 406.509 ounces, or nearly 11.5 tonnes of gold.
With the ambition to make it a mine that meets the highest international standards, Kinross has invested heavily in essential infrastructure to make Tasiast an international standard mine, providing Tasiast with infrastructure and equipment allowing employees to work there. safely while minimizing its impact on the environment as much as possible.
The impact of the mine extends well beyond the Tasiast area. Committed to responsible mining and creating sustainable value, Kinross is a leading partner for Mauritania through the significant benefits that the mine generates for the national economy and for the development of local communities.
With a total investment of more than 10 billion ouguiyas MRU (Equivalent to approximately 300 million US Dollars ), Phase One notably made it possible to significantly reduce operating costs and increase production.
In September 2019, one year after the commissioning of the new Phase One facilities, a new project was announced: Project 24k. This Project aims to gradually increase the plant’s crushing and ore processing capacity, from approximately 15,000 tonnes per day, to 21,000 t/d in 2021 and 24,000 t/d in 2023. Full-year 2022 production was 215% higher compared to 2021 due to the temporary suspension of milling operations in the prior year.

6. Tarkwa, Ghana. 532 koz. Gold Fields’ Tarkwa mine is located near the southern end of what is commonly referred to as The Tarkwa Basin, 300 km by road west of Accra, the capital of Ghana. The Tarkwa mine operates under mining leases covering a total area of approximately 20,800 ha. Mining activities around Tarkwa date back to the late 19th century. The Government of Ghana owns the remaining 10% through a free-carry interest. Gold Fields took over the Tarkwa mine from the State Gold Mining Company in 1993 and acquired full ownership of the Damang mine in 2011. In 2018, the company also bought 45% of the Asanko mine, which is managed by Galiano Gold and controls the other 45% of the mine.Gold Fields Ghana operated the underground mine which exploited the Main and West auriferous conglomerates (reefs) of the Banket Series of the Tarkwaian System.

7. Geita, Tanzania. 521 koz. Geita, one of AngloGold Ashanti’s flagship mines, is located in north-western Tanzania, in the Lake Victoria goldfields of Mwanza region, about 120km from Mwanza and 4km west of the town of Geita. It has been in operation as a large-scale mine since the 1930s. The Geita gold deposit is mined as a multiple open-pit and underground operation (since 2016) and will continue to operate as such until the entire economic open-pit Mineral Resource is exhausted.
Geita Gold Mine (GGM) is wholly owned by AngloGold Ashanti and sources ore from Nyankanga open pit and from two underground mines (Star and Comet as well as Nyankanga) in 2020.
Geita has an established 5.1Mtpa CIL processing plant capable of processing hard ore. It also has an established tailings storage facility. A full workshop facility is in place to support the maintenance of heavy mining equipment and all light support equipment. Additional support infrastructure includes a mine village, medical clinic, mine store, administration buildings and airstrip.
The underground mining method used at Geita is a combination of Longitudinal Open Stoping (LOS) and Transverse Open Stoping (TOS).
In 1936, the first Geita deposits were discovered and by 1966, three mines had produced almost 1Moz of gold.
Ashanti acquired the project through acquisition of Cluff Resources in 1996 and in early December 2000, Ashanti reached an agreement to sell AngloGold a 50% interest in Geita for $324 million. AngloGold added its neighbouring Nyamulilima Hill deposits into the JV company.
In 2004, the merger of AngloGold and Ashanti resulted in the operation being wholly run by AngloGold Ashanti.
In 2015, a decision was taken to go underground at Star and Comet and the underground development started in 2016.
In 2017 the Nyankanga underground operation commenced and in 2020 the Geita Hill underground commenced and is scheduled to ramp up to full production by the end of 2022.
The Nyankanga open pit, the only remaining operating pit at the time, was mined to completion in September 2020. In April 2021, the Nyamulilima open pit commenced operations.

8. Essakane, Burkina Faso. 480 koz. IAMGOLD’s Essakane mine is located in north-eastern Burkina Faso, West Africa. It straddles the boundary of the Oudalan and Seno provinces in the Sahel region of Burkina Faso and is approximately 330 km northeast of the capital, Ouagadougou. It is situated 42 km east of the nearest large town and the provincial capital of Oudalan, Gorom-Gorom.
IAMGOLD commenced management of the Essakane project following the acquisition of Orezone Resources in February 2009. Essakane began commercial production in July 2010. The plant expansion to accommodate a substantial increase of hard rock, was completed on time at the end of 2013.

9. Sukari, Egypt. 441 koz. Centamin’s Sukari mine or Alsukari mine is a gold mine located in the Nubian Desert/Eastern Desert near the Red Sea in Egypt. Sukari is Egypt’s sole gold-exporting mine and the first large-scale modern gold operation in the North African nation. Sukari is a bulk tonnage open pit and a high-grade underground operation, with significant exploration upside at depth and regionally, within the 160km2 tenement.
Today, Sukari is Egypt’s first large-scale modern mine; served by smooth tarmac roads, off-grid power, solar and a 25km water pipeline fed by the Red Sea. The landscape and climate can be unforgiving in Egypt’s mineral-rich Eastern Desert. Sukari is a hive of activity, a hub of employment and opportunity for upper and lower Egypt, with a workforce of 3,795 people, of which 95% are Egyptian. Egypt is an excellent operating jurisdiction, boasting a stable political environment, good security and a great infrastructure network from port to road access.
In 2022, Sukari will produce its five millionth ounce of gold since it began production 13 years ago. This is a milestone and journey that we are exceptionally proud of, but our focus is on the future – developing a thriving Egyptian gold industry for the benefit of the people and the country.
Sukari has at least 14 years of production ahead and 11.11 million ounces in gold resources and, more broadly, across Egypt, Centamin have 3,000km2 of new exploration licenses.

10. Akyem, Ghana. 420 koz. Akyem is an open-pit gold mine located in Birim North District in the Eastern region of Ghana. Newmont obtained the mining lease for Akyem in 2010 and began commercial production in 2013. In 2017, the Ghana Investment Promotions Center (GIPC) named Akyem the best company in Ghana for the second consecutive year.Akyem began construction in 2011 and achieved commercial production on schedule and below budget in October 2013. The operation currently employs more than 1,900 direct employees and contractors.

In conclusion, these top 10 largest gold mines in Africa are significant contributors to global gold production. With their large reserves and consistent production, they play a crucial role in the gold mining industry.And the gold mining industry continues to play a vital role in Africa’s economy, providing employment opportunities and generating significant revenue for many countries across the continent.

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