Gold mining is the extraction of gold by mining.
Historically, gold mining from alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. The expansion of gold mining to ores that are below the surface has led to more complex extraction processes such as pit mining and gold cyanidation. In the 20th and 21st centuries, large corporations produce the vast majority of the gold mined. However, as a result of the increasing value of gold, there are also millions of small, artisanal miners in many parts of the Global South.