Although gold production can be an important source of a nation's income stream, it is relative to each nation's economy and its population base.

As an example consider US production of 227 tonnes.
This is roughly 6 million ounces and at $1200 in USD per ounce, it totals roughly $7.2 billion.
Current estimates of the 2014 GDP for the USA is about $17.5 trillion*.
Works out to about 0.0004%.

In developing countries, the income stream can be a sizable contribution. Emphasis on "can".
Quite often the miner is a multi-national with most of the shareholders outside the country being mined.
Royalties and mayhaps a capital stake ROI in the mine once again "can" be considerable, but history supports this income stream and its utility as ephemeral at best. Each following election sees more of this income stream diverted to pet projects that all too often are purely self-interest and political.

A nation's aggregate wealth should only be looked at from the analysis of its citizen's contributions to over-all productivity.
Again using the USA as an example: $17.5 trillion (GDP) divided by 316 million (total US population) returns a average per capita GDP contribution of $55,000 and change. That is man, woman, child and the grand-parents in their rest-home/ retirement village. Now if we recompute this with a 90 million working population, we are left with an average GDP contribution of just under $200,000 per worker.

Perhaps the major flaw resides in the definition of GDP?


*source:http://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/national/gdp/gdpnewsrelease.htm

China is the largest gold producing country in the world and also tops in the list of gold consumption.

Gold is the most important element of the world financial system. It's non-corrosive, approving at many high-tech industries with relatively small reserves.