It has been widely reported that the global gold supply will begin to weaken over the next several years leaving investors anticipating higher prices. As noted a few weeks ago, gold supply is plateauing, with many experts now predicting an era of “peak gold.”

And as “peak gold” emerges, the world’s top 20 old miners have focused heavily on reducing debt in a turbulent mining market. In 2017, Barrick Gold stayed ahead of Newmont by a slim margin of 1.8 tonnes, however, Newmont’s gold output is expected to continue growing in 2018 which could very well push them ahead of Barrick to become the world’s biggest gold producer.

In 2017, there was a noticeable drop in terms of production from miners such as Barrick, Goldcorp, and Kinross, however, this was offset by stronger output from Newmont, AngloGold Ashanti and most notably Polyus Gold as Russia continues to become a significant gold mining producer.

Here are the top 20 gold-mining companies of 2017 (Tonnes):

It is also worth noting, the world’s top 20 gold producing nations in 2017. China led the way by (producing 429 tonnes) followed by Australia (289 tonnes) and Russia (272 tonnes) respectfully.

With global debt currently at 233 trillion, and Janet Yellen issuing a warning that the $20 trillion national debt ‘should keep people awake at night’ one can only imagine that these countries will continue to keep a close eye on local mining projects, as more uncertainty looms in the state of deleveraging and in the US bond market. This can be added to the list of currency wars, trade wars and geopolitical tension around the world.

As well documented, Russia and China continue to stockpile gold as insurance against their U.S. Treasury positions, as more and more countries begin to shred positions such as Japan.

As outstanding liabilities and debts continue to grow at an alarming rate globally, the insurance of gold should serve as a safety net when the money printing fiasco turns belly up.