Gold facts

Gold is a precious metal most commonly used in jewellery (rings, necklaces, watches, etc.). Gold is mined in nine Canadian provinces and territories, and is the highest valued commodity produced in Canada by value of production.

Learn more about gold

Uses

The most common use of gold is in jewellery (rings, necklaces, watches, etc.), which accounts for more than half of the global demand. Approximately 7.6% of the demand for gold is for use in technology applications, mostly as a component of microcircuitry in a range of electronic products.

Investors buy gold in the form of wafers, bars and coins, believed to offer a measure of protection from the risks of inflation and market volatility. Gold-bearing exchange-traded funds are another source of investment demand for gold.

Production

Canadian mines produced an estimated 183 tonnes of gold in 2018, which represents an 88% increase over production in 2009. In 2018, mine production increased in Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, Nunavut, and the Atlantic provinces with a new mine coming online in Nova Scotia. Production declined in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and the Yukon.

In 2018, Ontario and Quebec produced more than 75% of the gold mined in Canada. The following table shows the ranking of each gold producing jurisdiction by their 2018 preliminary production in thousands of grams.

International context

Production from the world’s gold mines reached an estimated  3,332 tonnes in 2018, a year-over-year increase of 2%. Decreased output in China and Africa was offset by increased production in North America and Oceania.

Find out more about gold production on an international scale:

The top five gold-producing countries accounted for 43.2% of the world's annual gold output in 2018.

World reserves

Mineral ore reserves of gold are calculated based on what can be economically and technically extracted. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, world reserves of gold ore were estimated at 54,100 tonnes in 2018.

The Bank of Canada no longer holds gold as part of its international reserves. This is the result of a Government of Canada decision to diversify its portfolio by selling its physical commodities and investing in more easily tradable financial assets.

Trade

Exports

• In 2018, the value of Canadian gold exports was $17.3 billion, a 7% decrease from the previous year
• Canada's exports of gold in unwrought form decreased to 304 tonnes in 2018, down from 334  tonnes in 2017
• The value of these exports decreased to $15.7 billion in 2018, down from $17.0 billion in 2017
• The value of Canada's exports of gold in metal ores and concentrates increased to $806.7 million in 2018, up from $754.0 million in 2017.

Imports

• The value of gold imports into Canada was $7.9 billion in 2018
• Canada imported 168 tonnes of gold in unwrought form in  2018, valued at $6.2 billion. In 2017, Canada imported 234 tonnes of gold, with a value of $7.1 billion

Prices

Gold prices over the last decade saw a steep increase from US$859 in January 2009 to US$1,771.85 per troy ounce in September 2011. The price of gold in 2018 began at US$1,331 per troy ounce, peaked at US$1,335 per troy ounce in April, and finished the year at US$1,247 per troy ounce.

Recycling

Gold is continually being recycled, mostly in the form of old jewellery that is melted down for reuse. The main motivation for consumers to sell or hold on to their gold jewellery is the price of gold in their respective currencies.

When the price of gold rises, it usually increases the supply available for scrap (recycled gold) available in that country. In  2018, the scrap supply of gold decreased to 1,178 tonnes, down from 1,210 tonnes in 2017. Economic instability and currency weakness accounted for a rise in recycling rates in Europe and the Middle East, while the stable dollar gold price accounted for the decline in other markets.

End-of-life electronics is a major contributor to the global scrap supply of gold.