This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
Infographic: Unearthing The World's Gold Supply
This infographic, part two in our 2014 Gold Series (part 1 here), covers the full supply picture behind the yellow metal. Within the planet’s crust, there is only 1 gram of gold for every 250 tonnes (550,000 lbs) of earth. Gold’s rarity means that finding economic deposits is extremely difficult. To understand how gold mining and supply work, we must first unearth how gold deposits form...
»
- 33858 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -
Fundamentals . . . yeah, I remember those.
Nice piece. It's hard to get macro data on gold that isn't childish or pimping some fund.
Serious question: Geology maps consistently show small but wide spread deposits of gold in the High Sierra at nose bleed elevations. Very little of that is volcanic. Why is it there?
Plate tectonics
The US gov has 8100 tons of gold?!?!
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
Very Well Done!
Even a blockhead like me can understand these pictures.
DaddyO
Sure it does, just remember to include the gold that the Germans gave us...
And gold from Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Ukraine...
"Fracking for gold" !?
Google it.
And China only has 1,054 tons
The US gov has 8100 tons of gold?!?!
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
and Germany has how much? .......... Really?
How much of the western central bank reserves are simply IOU's (with the physical metal long gone and/or owned several times over after being 'leased out')?
Or has the US been gaming everyone else?
Could it be that England's, Germany's and all the rest of the gold held in the US and London for others was leased out while the US was preserving its own reserves? Would make for some very po'd Arabs (Germany seems to be taking its delayed repatriation quite well, all things considered). Personally, I lean towards the tungsten filled Ft. Knox bars providing the ILLUSION of 8,000 tons.
You never know though... maybe the CIA didn't squander Yamashita's treasure and its all stashed somewhere for safekeeping..... yeah... in a bunch of private Swiss accounts
That 1000 handle on Russia and China is funny too.
56,000 tonnes left to ever be recovered.
3,000 tonnes per year current production.
20 years of gold mining left.
That's the most important part of this article. Also, grams per ton is declining at the same time.
And the cost to dig it out of the ground is increasing too.
Time to grab the trusty old mining pan and head out to the moon. Or the asteroid belt.
Exactly, more and more "dirt" has to be dug out to get each ounce. As the shallower deposits are exhausted then the mines will have to go deeper and deeper thus making it more expensive and energy intensive. So in thirty or so years the amount of gold will no longer slowly increase year on year but remain roughly constant.
On the other hand whilst the situation with silver is similar, much silver is used and not recovered so the available silver will diminish.
Now ponder on the situation with oil and and :-)
If I remember correctly, intense pressure from tectonic plate motion caused quartz to boil and liquefy. As the molten quartz traveled to the surface through cracks in the rocks, it picked up deposits of gold. I think that's correct.
Orogenic deposits. It helps if you read the article.
When you get thrust belts, hot fluid intrusions and interfingering dikes, you know that subduction is going to lead to orogeny...
Sounds pornographic.
https://xkcd.com/1082/
And while we're on the subject of geology:
https://xkcd.com/1198/
Pancho Villa
Could be "placer deposits" from ancient rivers. Keep in mind that the mountain tops of today weren't always "tops" millions of years ago. See of lot of deposits like that here in Montana
When the batholith was emplaced, it's constituent plutons rose up through prior igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary deposits and solidified subsurface with simultaneous volcanic activity around the region. All of the hydrothermal activity associated with that, associated volcanics and subsequent volcanics generated by the eastern basin and range formation emplaced gold, and this subsequently was eroded (along with a shitload of other cool stuff).
A lot of the non granitic stuff you see at the tops of the Sierra are "roof pendants" of metamorphic rocks, a lot of the tungsten mines are in these, the Pine Creek, south of Morgan pass, is one of the biggest. Adits enter the mountain there at around 6000 feet IIRC, and go UP to the 13,000 foot level. There are also PM deposits scattered about these, and I have found a small aquamarine (indicating possibly some emeralds too) in float rock derived from aplite dikes north of the mine.
Additional to the activity emplacing the gold, a large river complex, that I'm not well versed in the geology thereof, is "fossilized" (for want of a better term) mostly on the western side of the crest at varous elevations. The remnants of this river system was what contained the ungodly quantity of placer gold derived from the earlier mountain building episodes[s].
http://www.roaringcampgold.com/ is a family oriented place on the Mokelumne canyon that sits on a chunk of this deposit, and if you can afford $40 for the day tour or better yet shell for the week cabin and buy a pile of gravel, it is WELL worth your effort, they have a pristine section of the deposit and it has gobs of gold in it. When I did the day trip, in the sandwitch shop/general store they probably had 100K+ in recovered gold on display. I found enough to cover the entry fee. I tipped a woman and her young stepson on how to find a good spot under a deposit boulder to extract material for pannning and she promtly returned a short time later with a nice better than 1/3 ounce nugget.
At best maybe 15% of California gold was ever extracted to date. I know of several places where you can go that, with a days work, you can find enough to pay for your gas up, and have some beer and lunch money afterwards (.1-.3 oz, more if your lucky/persistant, and I know people who've found 1+ pounds in an outing) :-)
gold comes from outer space. it is part of the stars. impacted millions of years ago. rose up with the mountains.
WHEN THE MOTHER FUCKING ALIENS COME AS PART OF THE RAPTURE THEY WILL ONLY TAKE THOSE WHO HAVE GOLD INTO THEIR SPACE SHIPS WHICH IS WHY THE MAYANS, AZTECS, AND EGYPTIANS HOARDED THE YELLOW STUFF!
(am i ranting, crazy or pulling your leg...you tell me).
Do they want it back?
GOLD BE THE SAP THAT RUNNETH THROUGH THE UNIVERSE. THE EVERLASTING HONEY THAT COURSES THROUGH THE VEINS OF ALL THAT IS ONE AND CONNECTED AND CONNECTS US ALL TO ONE ANOTHER. IT IS THE BLESSED SAP THAT WILL SAVE YOUR SORRY ASS WHEN THE ALIENS COME AND THE VATICAN PRESENTS THEM AS ANGELS. THESE DOPPLEGANGERS WILL THEN PRY IT FROM GRANNY'S SKULL.
(course they will want their gold. it was their central bank that was hijacked by the Klingons and then the Klingons blew that shit up when thye didn't get bailed out by the USS Enterprise.)
SHIT, I JUST REALIZED THE IMF ARE THE FUCKING ALIENS
AHHHHHHHHHHH
Serious question: Geology maps consistently show small but wide spread deposits of gold in the High Sierra at nose bleed elevations. Very little of that is volcanic. Why is it there?
Google the "Jura River" and the "Blue Lead" to further confuse yourself. As a longtime prospector, miner, and proud owner of ten gold mines I've pondered the same thing with great earnestness. Most of the gold found in th Sierra rivers came from weather erosion and river transport. The Sierras used to be some three thousand feet higher than now, and the gold is said to be from the displaced material. Oddly, most of the big deposits were found at lower elevations, 2000-4000 feet.
Northern sections of the Blue Lead contained massive gold (amounts and size), and huge boulders of a size indicating they were from a river about the size of the Columbia River, but falling at a much faster rate. Did the Cascade range or perhaps a glacier block the prehistoric Columbia River, driving it south at some time? Look at the lakes in NE California, they link up to point to that direction.
There is a tremendous amount of bluish quartz in this material, thus blue lead. Find blue quartz in the Sierras and gold is nearby, watching and waiting.
Another fundamental that is omitted in the infographic is the role of subsea "black smokers" in creating gold deposits. Black smokers occur all over the oceans and deposit silver, gold, cobalt, nickel, arsenic, and other rare metals. At least one subsea mining company is attempting to exploit a shallow black smoker off the coast of New Guinea. There could be millions of tons of gold beneath the Red Sea alone. The question is if and when technology will enable these deposits to be tapped.
http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/issues/2007/january/treasuresdeep.asp
Can you not read What is VMS per the article?
I think I'm gonna faint...an article about gold on ZH! How roots-ish!
$50,000USD.
Crap! Only $44,900USD here. Time to buy more.
Bigger shovel/spade...check
Scooper diving gear...check
Obtain a licence to open a cash for gold shop...check
Time machine so i can go back into the past to buy gold at incredibly low prices...check
Right il see you guys later.
8133.5 tonnes? Decimal place fault.
I'm gittin' me a shovel and goin' prospectin' in them thar foothills.
.gov has an easier way of mining gold. They simply take it from you and give you worthless paper in exchange. My coins are somewhere in the Pacific.
I'm sorry to hear that. I feel for your loss and share your pain.
Yeah right, the US has 8,133 tonnes of gold reserves while China and Russia have only 1,054 and 1,035 tonnes respectively. Give me a fucking break! Promulgating that BS puts the rest of the information in this piece totally at question . . .
The US government has ZERO ounces of gold until it provides hard proof otherwise.
Not quite zero, given the safe holdings on behalf of Afghanistan, Iraq, Greece, Libya, Ukraine..
..which has already made it across the Pacific to China
It'l probably rain gold when the Yellowstone Caldera pops
We won't survive to enjoy it.
Yes we can! (say it with me!) YES WE CAN!
Who says the US is the world's largest depositor of gold? Without an audit, how can that be said? You would have to trust the same people who have proven themselves time and time again to be sociopathic liars. If they do in fact have that much gold, why then would it take over seven years to satisfy Germany's demand that their gold be returned? It would be a trivial amount, just do it, unless of course, YOU REALLY DON'T EVEN HAVE THAT MUCH. Why are attempts to audit US gold reserves fought against with such vigor by both the US gubmint and the central bank?
8,000 tones for the USA ? Bullshit.
Didn't say how pure.......those 8000 tonnes may have a large amount of tungsten 'impurities'......
Or chocolate centers, like some coins I just bought. Delicious but not much numismatic value.
But does not suffer from the "you can't eat it" argument.
We will get an audit when a crisis comes and we need to prove we are solvent. The audit will yield the same result that the stress test tell us the banks are solvent.
So an audit will tell you nothing because it will be a lie so that dishonest people can continue to perpetuate their lies and steal from dumb honest people. So heres your fucking audit( As I grab my unit)
"Why are attempts to audit US gold reserves fought against with such vigor by both the US gubmint and the central bank?"
Because the JOOOOS have none?
I think the position for china is way out of wack.
It is unfortunate that my gold and firearms were stolen by the TSA.
One of these days beans, pain killers and cigarettes will be worth quite a bit as well.
...vodka...toilet paper...viagra...ammo...
Horse shit garbage propaganda article. Russia, India and china are going clean our clocks.
The picture left out a lot of stuff! Ghaddaffi's tonnage, why, there was another 37 tons that came available just a couple weeks ago. Then there's all those solid gold asteroids to lasso and sell off, sunken Spanish galleons, thar be gold everwhere!
They used that Ukrainian gold to drop the gold price a hundred bucks or so over the last three weeks.
The empire is gonna have to invade someone else soon.
Or bankrupt a couple of miners.
Stack On
Of the total 170,000 tons mined in all of human history only about 30,000 tons were mined before 1900.
56,608 tons are left to enter the human economy via mining. Our current mining rate is 3000 tons/year. If we continued at this rate we would mine all available in 19 years. Production MUST slow down one way or another given depletion of world energy reserves and excalating cost of production. Either that or a crisis will stop production.
Stack it while it's cheap and then good luck with your boating skills. It's a hands down winner.
I guess the Anunnaki will return to take the gold when we have mined all the gold available :-) Thank the bankers for fiat currencies or the whole world commerce would come to a screeching halt in 20 years when that happens!
Can they do an info-graphic like that for bitcoin?
Bitchcoin is passe'
Silver ... do one on Silver
Because something has to actually exist to support an infographic.
They forgot about the 5oz hidden in the bowels of my vacuum cleaner.
Oh shit, black helicopters in 3... 2... 1.
My favorite number is Germany: 3,387.1 tons. Very precise number but they can't see it or have it.
Are they fracking for gold?
http://www.zengardner.com/fracking-gold/
How about a similar Silver infographic ?
Please.
Can't talk about that, there isn't much left.
Stack On
OK, so that's the Official Number set ...
Now, how about the Best Estimate ? As in China, Russia, and Iran, maybe india. Especially China. Those numbers omit the physical WHERE gold is actually located today. US vaults store the gold of many other countries - where is the accounting on that ?? International push comes to shove and the gold stays right where it is. Frau Merkel best be nice.
Who has the Physical Gold and How Much, Really?
And what are the odds that the Eight Thousand Tons plus are really in the physical possession of the USA and NOT being used as collateral for some Bush I oil deal with some SOB Prince Raghead ???? We'll probably never know. Public Audit has as much chance as the White House being struck by a golden meteorite.
Germany's gold is safe, backed by the full faith and credit of the USA,. Say it with me, it gets easier, USA USA USA USA USA USA USA
How come ISNOTREAL does not produce any gold? Could this have anything to do with the fact that the Ben talked bad about gold? Did he have some kind of agenda or something?
/sarc
So, Little Feller, It's remarkably easy to stake a claim on a real gold mine. I've done it. It's not that hard to get a truck load. If your mine is not too far in the mountains, you can even get it down and on the highway. Problem is you need a ball mill and an acid separation, using arsenic, operation, a pond, and a way to protect the environment (not really this is the post Cheney era after all). Well you gotta pay the mill and the refiner's and they just dump your ore in with the rest of it based on the assay, and you get a check. With a little hassle you can even get some actual gold.
My partner turned the office into a whore house and made way more money than we were making with the gold operation. So, I quit claimed my half to him so I wouldn't go to the big house. End of Story.
PS. This happened.
Paper gold seems easier to mine.
Buy it, duh
Anunnaki have the most gold.
Beautiful work guys, thanks a lot.
If you like the long term outlook for the metal there are 2 plays -
1. Own some physical and make sure it's IN YOUR POSSESSION, and
2. The big miners are draining their reserves. If they are to remain viable long term, they need to replace those reserves otherwise the companies will shrink until they're gone. They can a) look for new deposits (the hard thing to do, but more profitable if right) or they can buy already proven deposits (more expensive, but a surer bet). So the way to invest in the mining setor is to look to buy the smaller firms (in relation to the majors) that have promising deposits because chances are the majors are coming after them with their chequebooks open. This trade is for the next several year, don't expect fireworks tomorrow, but it has to be a growing trend right now.
Some lies about the cost of mining gold and silver.
http://srsroccoreport.com/the-grand-deception-in-the-precious-metals-ind...
It's the last element produced by a star, before that star dies.
Nucleosynthesis, bitchez!
There must be enormous amounts of Au in the earth's crust in deep deposits that can't be conventionally mined. Billions of tons. If you could find this gold, you could drill shafts to it and extract it with hot cyanide/O2 solutions. But how to find the gold? Maybe there is a way to do it with neutrino tomography.
What the fuck does that last statement mean? "Supply must always meet demand"? Nonsense.
Second, I like the way it skims over the paper market's distortion of reality.
Based on current market reasoning, the drop in production, quality of reserves, etc., will casuse and immediate price drop. This shit is waaaayyyy overpriced!