South Africa Has Fallen in 4th Place in the Gold Production League
For many years the South Africa gold production was considered to be the largest in the world but it has fallen to the 4th place in the global gold production league.
The South Africa's Chamber of Mines released figures according to which the country's gold mine output has taken it to the 4th position.
After being the world's largest gold producer for most of the 20th Century and early 21st Century it has lost the position to China.
The most recent figures put South Africa behind Australia and the US in the global gold output.
In 2008 due to the electricity crisis South Africa was forced to cut most mine production and the decline was of 14.
5% in the gold output.
However, in 2009 the drop was not so significant, it was only of 5.
8%.
Nonetheless, the gold production is of the most crucial importance to its economy.
Only in 2009, the gold industry brought earnings of approximately 6.
6 billion dollars.
This made this segment of the industry the second largest exporter behind platinum metals.
The gold sector has about 160.
000 employees and pays about 600 billion on wages, capital expenditure, tax to government, dividends, electricity and goods.
Even though, South Africa's gold output is slowly recovering there are other factors that cause difficulties to the country's gold mines.
Two of the most important problems are the great depths at which many mines operate and the degradation of the older mines.
These two factors also have an impact on the industry safety and even if there has been a constant battle to improve the safety-related issues, the accidents that occur have a big impact.
Taking into consideration the depth at which some mines work the difficulty of providing safety to the employees is much bigger.
If we take into consideration the financial context of the time we are living in we have to realize that investing in gold may be a good way of insuring a better future for us and our family.
The South Africa's Chamber of Mines released figures according to which the country's gold mine output has taken it to the 4th position.
After being the world's largest gold producer for most of the 20th Century and early 21st Century it has lost the position to China.
The most recent figures put South Africa behind Australia and the US in the global gold output.
In 2008 due to the electricity crisis South Africa was forced to cut most mine production and the decline was of 14.
5% in the gold output.
However, in 2009 the drop was not so significant, it was only of 5.
8%.
Nonetheless, the gold production is of the most crucial importance to its economy.
Only in 2009, the gold industry brought earnings of approximately 6.
6 billion dollars.
This made this segment of the industry the second largest exporter behind platinum metals.
The gold sector has about 160.
000 employees and pays about 600 billion on wages, capital expenditure, tax to government, dividends, electricity and goods.
Even though, South Africa's gold output is slowly recovering there are other factors that cause difficulties to the country's gold mines.
Two of the most important problems are the great depths at which many mines operate and the degradation of the older mines.
These two factors also have an impact on the industry safety and even if there has been a constant battle to improve the safety-related issues, the accidents that occur have a big impact.
Taking into consideration the depth at which some mines work the difficulty of providing safety to the employees is much bigger.
If we take into consideration the financial context of the time we are living in we have to realize that investing in gold may be a good way of insuring a better future for us and our family.
Source...