Global Industry: The Top 50 biggest mining companies in the World

At the end of the first quarter this year the top 50 companies had a combined worth of $842 billion. In total these companies’ added $258 billion in market capitalization over the past 12 months and a good fifth of those gains occurred in 2017.

As with any ranking, criteria for inclusion is a contentious issue. We decided to exclude unlisted and state-owned enterprises at the outset due to a lack of information. That of course excludes giants like Chile’s Codelco, Uzbekistan’s Navoi Mining which owns the world’s largest gold mine, Eurochem, a major potash firm, trader Trafigura, top uranium producer Kazatomprom and numerous entities in China and developing countries around the world.

Another central criterion was the depth of involvement in the industry before an enterprise can rightfully be called a mining company.