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Jointly owned by Turquoise Hill ( a Rio Tinto-owned subsidiary ) and the Mongolian government , Oyu Tolgoi is projected to contain 46.3mn ounces of gold . Oyu Tolgoi is one of the most recently-developed gold mines on this list . The deposits were discovered in 2001 , and construction on the mine began in 2010 ; the first shipment came in 2013 .

While Oyu Tolgoi ’ s gold deposits are impressive , its copper deposits are significantly larger at 40bn pounds . Gold production reached 300,000 ounces in 2016 , with Turquoise Hill projecting a smaller output of between 100,000 and 140,000 ounces in 2017 .

Nestled in Russia ’ s most productive gold mining region , Olimpiada is estimated to have 47.5mn ounces of gold . The gold deposits at Olimpiada were first discovered in 1970 , with

open-pit mining commencing 26 years later .

Olimpiada forms the largest operation of Polyus , Russia ’ s largest gold producer . In 2016 , it produced more than 943,000 ounces of gold , up almost 18 % over the previous year .

26 October 2017 www . polyus . com / en / operations / operating _ mines / olimpiada