The top 50 biggest mining companies in the world

At the conclusion of July, the MINING.COM TOP 50 ranking of the world's most valuable miners boasted a combined market capitalization of $2.17 trillion, a $18 billion increase from the previous month and an overall gain of $26 billion in 2026. The top 50 now operates on a monthly basis, and all rankings since the start of the decade have been recalculated to account for mined metals and minerals, while excluding coal-heavy companies and adjusting previous rankings accordingly.

The $545 billion swing in July was significantly more substantial than the 0.8% headline change indicates. When mining stocks were riding high on gold and copper prices at the end of March, the Top 50 had a value of $2.33 trillion. By the end of June, with gold off its record, the ranking had decreased to $2.15 trillion. The full range of values for the Top 50, based on each company's best and worst monthly end-of-year performance, spanned from $1.9 trillion to $2.44 trillion.

This range better represents the state of the commodities market in 2026, as the ranking rarely deviated from a $2.2 trillion figure.

Zijin Mining, a major gold and silver producer, experienced the most notable gains in July, adding $24 billion to its market value, a 23.8% increase. This led to Zijin moving up to the fourth position with a market capitalization of $125 billion. The primary driver of this surge was a strong first-half profit alert, with a net profit guide of roughly RMB 39.1 billion, a 68% increase, and gold output rising by 15% to over 1.5 million ounces and silver increasing to 7.4 million ounces.

Notably, lithium production surged sixfold, reaching 43,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent, while copper output fell by 6%.

At the opposite end of the ranking, Russian gold miner Polyus saw its market value drop by $13.2 billion (37.6%) and fell eight places to number 28. In July, the company announced a dividend suspension until 2030 to fund a series of investment projects. The news caused the stock to plummet 26% in a single session, the second-worst day in Polyus' history, and it continued to decline throughout the month.

Analysts speculated that Polyus might be preparing for a windfall tax on gold profits, with the company expecting a deeply unpopular $3,100 per ounce for bullion. Despite the poor performance, Polyus and Norilsk Nickel remained in the ranking due to captive investors on the Moscow Exchange, where sanctions have made selling shares challenging.