Gold: The sources and uses of gold

Gold Investment - 30 January 2012

Trustable Gold, a gold investment comparison website, has created a “Gold Tree” infographic that sheds more light on the sources and uses of gold. It is for one interesting to note that the identified underground gold reserves are standing at 50 000 tons, while just over a 166 000 tons of gold were mined so far (in the history of mankind!).

What is even more interesting and definitely noteworthy is that approximately 2500 tons of gold get mined annually (or per year). This means at the current rate of gold mining, it will take approximately 20 years to deplete the identified underground gold reserves (assuming that no new underground gold reserves are identified). Furthermore, it is also interesting to note that South Africa’s annual contribution to the total quantity of gold mined in the world is currently more or less 8%, which is equal to Russia’s contribution, but drags behind the contributions of the United States and Australia (9%) respectively. This is despite the fact that we’re sitting with 6000 tons of identified underground gold reserves here at home. Yes, Australia is sitting with 7300 tons of identified underground gold reserves, which most definitely contributes to their success in getting gold out of the ground at a faster rate than South Africa. However, the United States only has 3000 tons of identified underground gold reserves, half of our 6000 tons, but they still manage to get the gold out of the ground faster. Yes, it depends on various factors, but do we really have an excuse except for rhetoric coming from the likes of Malema and the impact of BEE on the gold mining industry? Anyhow, the purpose of this article is not to get into the details or to offend anyone, but rather to place something to chew (to ponder) on the table. All is most definitely not lost, especially considering that Africa’s total contribution to the global quantity of gold mined annually is standing at 17% (South Africa 8%, Ghana 4%, Mali 2%, Tanzania 2% and Guinea 1%), which places Africa in second place. Thus, the above is not a call for pessimism, but rather improvement. The first place is filled by Asia with a massive 25% (China 13%, Indonesia 5%, Uzbekistan 4%, Philippines 2% and Kyrgyzstan 1%) contribution to the global quantity of gold mined annually.

Now let’s move on to the actual “Gold Tree” in which physical gold is depicted on the branch to your left, the branch where you as a gold investor/owner must find yourself in if you plan to survive the coming onslaught, especially when it comes to gold storage closer to home, independent from third parties and the likes…

From: Trustable Gold