Gold production in Mozambique grew 5% year-on-year in the first nine months of 2024, to almost 1.3 tonnes, according to a report by the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), which details production and mining from January to September.
According to Lusa, the document points out that the country produced 1291 kilograms of gold in this period, compared to 1228 kilograms in the same period in 2023 and representing 82 per cent of the target of 1583 kilograms for the whole of 2024.
Currently, each kilogram of gold costs around 5 million meticals (80,000 euros) on the international market, which means that production up to September represents almost 6.5 billion meticals (98.2 million euros). According to budget execution data, the country had already broken its gold production record in 2023, with more than 1.6 tonnes more than projected for last year and this year.
According to a MEF report on last year’s budget execution, gold production in the state totalled 1,666.4 kilograms, a 32% increase on the record-breaking 1,263.8 kilograms in 2022. It was also a 124 per cent increase on what the Mozambican government had initially forecast, but also above this year’s projections, which point to production of 1583 kilos of gold.
‘The gold production plan indicates a growth of 3 per cent compared to the projections for the year 2023,’ reads the documents supporting the proposal for the Economic and Social Plan and State Budget (PESOE) for 2024, adding that this expected growth is the result of “greater control of artisanal mining,” but also of the ’positive performance of the country’s production companies.’
