How Much Gold Is Still Left to Mine?

The price of gold rises and falls over time, but overall, the high demand for this precious metal remains the same. People have been mining gold since some of the earliest known civilizations. The ancient Egyptians are well known for their use of gold to make jewelry and religious items, and the Byzantine Empire engaged in gold mining in Europe and France in 600 AD. While the California Gold Rush also stands out as a time when mining was in full force, there are still gold mines in operation today. If they’re considering whether to buy gold, Carlsbad collectors can gain insight into the precious metals industry by knowing how much unmined gold is left.

Understanding the Concept of Peak Gold

When you hear precious metals enthusiasts talking about reaching peak gold, they’re referring to the moment when miners have recovered the most they can in a single year. Depending on who you talk to, you might hear miners have already reached this point. Over the last several years, there has been a slight decline in gold mine production. However, it will take more time before the possibility of having reached peak gold can be proven. Even when peak gold is reached, mines are still expected to produce many more tons of gold before they exhaust the existing reserves.

Exploring How Mining Companies Value Unmined Gold

If you’re wondering what the phrase “gold reserves” means, it may help to know miners use this term to describe gold that’s currently economical to mine at the recent price. Alternatively, miners refer to gold that could potentially become economically viable to mine after more investigation is conducted into additional resources. Naturally, the overall volume of gold reserves is easier to determine than resources. But this is still a difficult number to calculate with full accuracy.

Estimating the Current Amount of Unmined Gold

To date, more than 190,000 tons of gold have already been mined, although you’ll find there can be some variance in the estimates. With that in mind, experts currently believe there are around 50,000 tons of gold reserves still waiting to be mined. This comes out to an estimate of around 20 percent of the world’s gold being unmined. Once again, you’ll want to remember this is a moving target. With new technologies being developed every day, it’s possible gold resources may be redefined as reserves once miners are able to find economically viable ways to access the precious metal.

Putting the Future of Mining into Perspective

New gold mines continue to be discovered, but it’s also becoming harder to extricate gold from the ground despite evolving technology. Miners today are often tasked with mining deeper below the ground, which takes up more resources, such as time and money. Even if miners were to exhaust all the reserves, there’s still gold that exists in areas where it’s deemed unreachable or unrealistic to try to extricate. For instance, gold lying on the bottom of the ocean floor is likely to remain unmined for the foreseeable future.

For information on any aspect of buying, selling, and owning precious metals, call on the experts at First National Bullion and Coin. If you’re looking to buy Carlsbad gold and bullion, you can trust our reputable dealers. We’re a boutique precious metals firm with experienced professionals, and we work hard to keep our investors informed with the most up-to-date market intelligence. If you’re looking to add precious metals to your investment portfolio, call us today.

The statements made in this blog are opinions, and past performance is not indicative of future returns. Precious metals, like all investments, carry risk. Precious metals and coins may appreciate, depreciate, or stay the same in cash value depending on a variety of factors. First National Bullion does not guarantee, and its website and employees make no representation, that any metals for sale will appreciate sufficiently to earn the customers a profit. The decision to buy, sell, or borrow precious metals and which precious metals to purchase, borrow, or sell are made at the customer’s sole discretion.