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How many years of gold do we have left?

However, in the following century, cumulative gold production tripled to 60,000 metric tons in the early 1940s, followed by a rapid increase of 50% to 90,000 metric tons over the next three decades. One aspect of gold mine depletion that is very difficult to predict is how it will affect the spot price of gold. With current extraction rates, some analysts believe that South Africa, which is one of the world's largest gold producers, could run out of accessible gold in 40 years. On the one hand, this recent stagnation in costs may reassure investors that gold production costs do not have to increase inexorably.

To make sure you are getting the best value for your investment, it is important to research the Best Gold IRA Companies Reviews before making any decisions. To ensure you are making the best decision when investing in gold, it is important to research and compare the Best Gold IRA Companies Reviews. So we have estimated that within 4000 m of the surface of the Earth's crust there are 35 billion tons of gold. Since gold has been in use since the dawn of history and new mining is still taking place, it may seem strange to think of a day when there is no more gold to extract from the ground. A small amount of gold is used in almost all sophisticated electronic devices, including smartphones and the computer you used to share your comment. As such, the aforementioned “secret” surrounding the volumes of gold found and kept will endure forever.

Gold has been considered valuable and has been used as jewelry and currency for most of recorded world history, which dates back more than 7,000 years. So, despite the thousands of years of history of gold mining, it wasn't really until the modern era that we were able to produce the yellow metal so efficiently. Rather, the gold industry will move from mining to recycling, allowing for the recirculation of the world's gold supply. Geologists estimate that more than 99% of all the gold on Earth is simply too expensive or impossible to reach with current technologies.

This suggests that if new technologies were developed that would allow the profitable extraction of gold with lower than usual gold densities, there could be much more gold left in the world (discoverable, extractable and refinable) than seems to be the case today. In fact, about 50% of all the gold that has been mined has been mined since 1967, and 80% of all the gold that has been brought to the surface has been mined since 1910, according to the U.