Zimbabwe gold deliveries hit 35.88 t, record year in sight

Zimbabwe gold deliveries to Fidelity Gold Refinery reached 35.88 tonnes between January and September, the Herald reported, leaving the country on track for its best year on record. That is 71.8% of the 50-tonne target for 2026 and, at Friday's New York close of about $4,166 an ounce, gold worth about $4.81bn on our numbers.

Why it matters: Most of Zimbabwe's gold now comes from small diggers, not big mines, so the record depends on how much they keep selling to the official refinery.

September came in at 4.72 tonnes, down from 5.12 tonnes in August, the strongest month of the year so far. At Friday's price, September's deliveries alone were worth about $632m.

Who is producing Zimbabwe's gold?

Small-scale miners, by a wide margin. Artisanal and small-scale miners delivered about 25.78 tonnes over the nine months, against 10.1 tonnes from large-scale mines, according to the Herald. On those figures, small miners supplied about 72% of the gold the refinery bought.

Each tonne delivered is worth about $134m at Friday's close, on our price data, so the dollar price matters as much as the tonnage. Our explainer on what moves the gold price covers why that number has swung so much this year.

Can Zimbabwe reach 50 tonnes this year?

It is within reach, but it needs the second half's pace to hold. The country has 14.12 tonnes left to deliver in October, November and December, or about 4.71 tonnes a month. The year-to-date average is 3.99 tonnes a month.

August and September both cleared that bar, though September only just. A repeat of September's 4.72 tonnes in each of the last three months would get Zimbabwe to roughly 50 tonnes.

The record looks safer than the target. Even at about 4 tonnes a month, full-year deliveries would pass 47.8 tonnes, allAfrica reported, beating the 46.7 tonnes delivered in 2025.

What the dollar price does to the tally

Hitting the target would put about $6.7bn of gold through the refinery at Friday's price. That price has moved a long way: gold is about 23% below its record close of about $5,426 in January but up 4.3% over the past three months, on our data since 1968. Our gold price history page tracks the record and the falls since.

The same 50 tonnes would have been worth about $8.7bn at January's record close, on our numbers, or roughly $2bn more than today.