How much gold, platinum, and silver is there in the world?

[WingedLiberty1]

((Please correct me if any of my info is wrong!))

 

The total amount of gold in the world is surprisingly small. This figure is not readily available as an exact amount, however you can estimate the total amount through production figures.

 

The annual worldwide production of gold is approximately 50 million troy ounces per year. That amount of gold would fit in a cube of gold that is about 14 feet on each side.

 

Figuring out the total amount of gold that has been produced throughout history is convoluted. To get at some kind of estimate, let's figure that the world has been producing gold at 50 million ounces a year for 200 years. Fifty million ounces * 200 years = 10 billion ounces. Ten billion ounces of gold would fit into a cube roughly 80 feet on a side. Consider that the Washington Monument measures 55 feet by 55 feet at its base and is 555 feet tall. That means that if you could somehow gather all the gold ever mined into one place, you could only build about one-third of the Washington Monument.

 

 

Platinum is even more scarce than gold. Only 3.6 million troy ounces are produced per year. If you assume that the world has produced 3.6 million ounces per year for 50 years to estimate the total worldwide supply, all of the platinum in the world would fit in a cube that is roughly 20 feet on a side. In other words, all of the platinum in the entire world would easily fit in the average US house.

 

Finding out how much silver there is in the world is tougher. However, there are approximately 700 million ounces of silver mined each year. About 14 times as many ounces as gold (This is probably where the old 10 to 15 to 1 gold silver ratio came from? Today the ratio is closer to 60 to 1).

 

When you think about the Silver production and the US population. There are roughly about 310 million people living in the US. If you take those numbers and divide the number of people living in the US vs. how many ounce of silver are mined each year you end up with 2.25 ounces of silver. That means there are only 2.25 new ounces of silver on the market for each American citizen every year. An amazingly small amount.

 

Might be a good time to run out and buy a few American Silver Eagles since silver is down to roughly 50% of it's peak price hit a few years ago.

 

 

[mumu]

Cool post however using peak spiked prices to justify any purchase is a poor idea IMO. 47$ silver was never a realistic price. Not saying it wont be some day but that is just not of any significance.

[WingedLiberty1]

Good point.

 

However i am sure no one disagrees that it's better to buy at 27 rather than 47!!

 

I was sort of amazed that all the gold in the world today would fit inside the bottom 1/3 of the Washington Monument (All the silver in the world would be about 14 times that I THINK?? Maybe the block would be bigger than that for silver since silver is not as heavy as gold. In any case, it's really not that big of a block in the scheme of things.

[mumu]

I have heard this too before going back to HS but the analogy was how much of a football field you could cover. Something just doesnt sound right about it to me. So much jewelry, so much gold in indian private hands. SO many gold coins and gold bullion vendors always in stock. I dont know, I guess the numbers dont lie but its really surprising.

[RWB]

See the BBC article posted a couple of weeks ago....

[orifdoc]

One thing that floored me at my first big coin show was the quantity of gold laying around...... Then I thought about it. All the gold at the whole show would easily fit into a single small car, maybe even a big suitcase.

 

I wouldn't underestimate the amount gathered in antiquity though. Those people valued it as much or more than we do and plenty of easy-to-get gold was collected from large deposits on or near the surface. The Spainards took ship after ship full of the stuff to Europe.

[wdrob]

((Please correct me if any of my info is wrong!))

 

 

Wow!

 

Plagiarism is not good and it is even worse when you don't credit the source. That was word for word from How Stuff Works.

 

I won't correct you because your wrong on the facts but at least attribute it to the original source. Please.

 

And if you were the original author then I stand corrected.

[HULLCOINS-migration]

+1

 

 

((Please correct me if any of my info is wrong!))

 

Even worse it becomes "my" info.