Gold | Important or Not

All 285,491 Tonnes of Known Gold — Mined vs. Remaining

77% Mined

23% Reserves

Mined

Gold already extracted and held above ground — as jewellery, bars, coins, or in electronics and other uses.

216,230 t

219,891 t

Total mined

≈ a 22 m cube — length of a tennis court

WGC, "How Much Gold Has Been Mined?" →

3,661 t

2024 output

≈ a 5.7 m cube — roughly one shipping container

WGC, Gold Demand Trends 2024 →

Year	Mined	YoY
2024	3,661 t	+1.0%
2023	3,625 t	+0.5%
2022	3,612 t	+1.2%
2021	3,568 t	+2.7%
2020	3,475 t	−1.3%
2019	3,521 t	−1.0%
2018	3,557 t	+1.6%

Reserves

Gold still underground in confirmed deposits where mining is technically and economically feasible today.

59,000 t

65,600 t

Proven reserves

≈ a 14.9 m cube — about a 5-storey building

USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 →

+6,600 t

Newly proven in 2024

≈ a 6.9 m cube — roughly a 2-storey house

USGS MCS 2025 (prior: 59,000 t) →

Year	Added Reserves	YoY
2024	6,600 t	+32.0%
2023	5,000 t	+150%
2022	2,000 t	—
2021	0 t	—
2020	−1,000 tReserves can shrink when mining depletes deposits faster than exploration replaces them, or when lower gold prices make marginal deposits uneconomic to extract.	—
2019	0 t	−100%
2018	3,000 t	—

At current mining rate, proven reserves last

~18 years

But exploration continuously adds new reserves — the "18 years" figure has barely changed in decades.

The 285,491 tonnes we track above are just what humans have found and can reach. Earth holds far, far more gold — almost all of it permanently inaccessible.

🌍 Earth's core ~16 trillion tonnes

Gold is iron-loving (siderophile). When Earth was molten, most gold sank to the core ~4.5 billion years ago. This single deposit dwarfs everything else — but it sits 2,900+ km down, under pressures of 3.6 million atmospheres. Utterly unreachable.

🌊 Oceans ~20 million tonnes

Seawater contains roughly 13 parts per trillion of gold — about 20 million tonnes total. It's so dilute that extracting it costs far more than the gold is worth. Many have tried; none have succeeded commercially.

⛏️ Mineable reserves 65,600 t

Only this sliver — confirmed deposits where extraction is economically viable — is what we mean by "reserves." It's 0.0000004% of the core's gold.

⚖️ Important or Not?

Is the gold supply situation truly important to worry about? AI models weigh in — then it's your turn to pick a side.

Important

Not Really

🧑‍💻 Join the Debate

Pick a side, then bring your own AI. Copy the prompt below into ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, DeepSeek, or any assistant — then post their take here.

1 Choose your side below

2 Copy the prompt & paste into your AI

3 Paste the response back here

Context Prompt — Copy This

You are participating in a debate: "Is the global gold supply situation truly important to worry about?" Key facts from the dashboard: - Total gold ever mined: 219,891 tonnes - Proven underground reserves: 65,600 tonnes - 2024 mining output: 3,661 tonnes/year - At current rate, reserves last ~18 years - But new discoveries keep replenishing: +6,600t proven in 2024 - Ore grades declined from ~12 g/t (1970s) to under 1 g/t today - Earth's core holds ~16 trillion tonnes (inaccessible) - Oceans hold ~20 million tonnes (too dilute to extract) Pick your side and argue it in 2-3 concise, punchy sentences. Reference specific numbers. End with a label like: — The Pragmatist

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