The claim that the small African country of Uganda has discovered 31 million tonnes of gold ore with a yield of 320,000 tonnes of refined gold is going viral. But its numbers are, simply, impossible.

Mary Alexander • 25 August 2025

An astonishing 31-million-tonne motherlode of gold ore with a yield of 320,000 tonnes of refined gold valued at US$12 trillion has been discovered in Uganda.

At least, that’s the claim spreading on social media in August 2025.

A tonne is a thousand kilograms. Gold is measured in troy ounces, a unit of 31.1 grams and the amount of gold in a Krugerrand, so the find could produce an astonishing 10.3 billion Kruggerrands.

Uganda is a small landlocked country in East Africa, about the size of the United Kingdom.

In 2023 its gold production, most of it by small-scale artisanal miners, was just 0.0042 tonnes.

This is a drop in the bucket for Africa’s top gold-producing countries. In the same year, Ghana mined 130.6 tonnes of gold, South Africa 105.7 tonnes and Mali 103.4 tonnes. The average output of the continent’s top 10 gold countries was 76.7 tonnes.

Uganda’s output was 0.005% of that.

‘Unexplained mysteries’

The claim has recently spread widely on Facebook (here, here and here), Instagram (here, here and here), X (here, here and here), TikTok (here, here and here), LinkedIn (here, here and here) and YouTube (here, here and here).

A common version reads: “Uganda has made a groundbreaking discovery of 31 million metric tonnes of gold ore, with estimates suggesting it contains over 320,000 tonnes of refined gold valued at an incredible $12 trillion.”

The claim is false – and more than three years old – but it isn’t your typical bogus social media slop. It was reported by Reuters in 2022, citing a Ugandan government official. (Images: Facebook)

Some versions use graphics with photos of Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni, who has been in office since 1986. They read:

• Uganda Discovers Over 31 Million Metric Tonnes Of Gold Ore Valued At $12 Trillion
• Uganda Has Discovered Gold Deposits Worth More Than $12 Trillion Igniting Economic Hope
• Unexplained Mysteries: 31 million tonnes of ‘Gold Ore’. This much Gold was found in Uganda, with extractable pure gold estimated to gross 320,000 tonnes.

But every figure in the claim is, simply, impossible.

(More than) all the gold in the world

Although the claim is false – and more than three years old – it isn’t your typical bogus social media slop. The reputable news agency Reuters reported it on 8 June 2022, citing a Ugandan government official.

Energy and mineral development ministry spokesperson Solomon Muyita told Reuters that “two years of aerial exploration … across the country followed by geophysical and geochemical surveys and analyses” had revealed “gold ore deposits of about 31 million tonnes”.

“Muyita said an estimated 320,158 tonnes of refined gold could be extracted from the 31 million tonnes of ore,” Reuters said.

Other news reports from June 2022 quote a document prepared by the ministry: “The volume of the reserves is estimated at 31 million tonnes of gold ore, or net 320,158 tonnes of gold, valued at $12.8 trillion …”

The problem is, 320,158 tonnes is more than all the gold produced since we started mining the stuff about 6,000 years ago. The World Gold Council says the “best estimates suggest that around 216,265 tonnes of gold have been mined throughout history”.

That’s only two-thirds of what’s promised in Uganda.

World Gold Council data (PDF, Excel) reveals that in the 15 years from 2010 to 2024 the entire world’s total gold output was 50,941 tonnes. That’s under 16% of Uganda’s reported 320,158 tonnes. China, the world’s top gold producer, mined 4,721.9 tonnes (1.47%) in those 15 years. And the Asian country is huge, with a land area of 9.6 million square kilometres. Uganda, at 241,550 square kilometres, could fit into it almost 40 times.

Beyond ‘bonanza’ grade

More than this, the extraction of 320,158 tonnes of refined gold from 31 million tonnes of ore would mean that Uganda’s deposits have an average grade of 10,000 grams per tonne. That is beyond unheard of.

Gold ore is simply rock that contains particles of gold – sometimes more, sometimes less, but always in tiny quantities. The rock first has to be mined – dug out of the earth – then crushed and ground to a powder, after which various chemical and mechanical processes are used to extract the metal.

The grade of raw, freshly mined gold ore is measured in grams per tonne (g/t), with higher grades yielding more gold from each tonne mined. For open-pit mines, a high grade is 1.5 or more grams of gold for each tonne of ore. For underground mines, a high grade is eight grams per ton and a “bonanza” grade one troy ounce (31.1 grams) per tonne.

In 2015, the world’s 10 highest-grade gold mines had an output of between 11.1 and 44.1 g/t. Today, the Fosterville gold mine in Australia is recognised as the world’s highest-grade gold operation, producing an average of 28 g/t and historically reaching up to 40 g/t.

There simply is no rational comparison between the 10,000 g/t in the Ugandan claim and the proven peak of 40 g/t from the world’s highest-grade gold mine. If the claim were true, the ore found in Uganda would have at least 250 times more gold in it than the richest ore at Fosterville.

As one investment analyst wrote soon after the Reuters article appeared:

Thirty-one-million tonnes of ore with an average gold grade over 10,000 g/t… no. At that grade, there would be visible gold absolutely everywhere. Gold would be spilling out of the rock. You wouldn’t be able to walk without stepping on gold.

With that much gold discovered, the price of the metal would have plummeted. It hasn’t.

The average gold price for the second quarter – April, May and June – of 2025 was $3,280.35 per troy ounce, up by 40% on the same period in 2024. At that price, Uganda’s supposed gold find would be worth $33.8 trillion. That’s more than the value of all global trade in 2024.