M. Garside
Research lead covering energy, chemicals & resources
Precious metals in the UK - statistics & facts
After the economic crisis, the mine production of gold has been increasing steadily all over the world. In 2008, global gold production from mines dropped to 228,000 metric tons. Since then global gold mine production has risen to above 3,000 metric tons each year from 2015 onwards. China is the world's largest producer of gold from mines, with production reaching 480 metric tons in 2020. Gold production in the United Kingdom, by comparison, only amounted to 50 kilograms in 2019.
Silver production in the UK: also not a world leader
The total world production of silver from mines has seen a few fluctuations, but increased overall during the past decade totaling 25,000 metric tons in 2020. Of this amount, 5,600 metric tons was attributable to Mexico's silver mine production, thus Mexico is the world's largest silver producer. By contrast, UK silver production amounted to 130 kilograms in 2019. This was down considerably from production in 2011, which peaked at 531 kilograms, or just over half of a metric ton.How the UK fits into the global precious metals industry: imports
Since it is evident that the UK's precious metal production is not large enough to render them among the world's leading producing countries, trade plays an important part in the region's participation in this market, mainly in terms of imports. Import values of the various precious metals to the United Kingdom (UK) have increased over the past decade. For instance, the UK's imports of semi-manufactured gold reached a value over 55 billion British pounds in 2019. Additionally, the total value of the UK's silver imports amounted to some 2.32 billion British pounds in 2019. That same year, some 2.5 billion British pounds worth of unwrought or partly worked palladium was imported to the United Kingdom.
