How Much Gold Is Left?

Common questions

How many years of gold are left?

At current mine production of roughly 3,300 tonnes a year, the world's known gold reserves — about 66,000 tonnes per the USGS — represent on the order of 20 years of output. That is a snapshot ratio, not a countdown: "reserves" means the gold that is economically minable at today's prices and technology, and that figure has grown, not shrunk, over the decades as prices rise and new deposits are proven. So a 20-year reserves figure does not mean gold runs out in 20 years.

What is the reserves-to-production ratio?

It divides a metal's current reserves by its annual mine production to express reserves in years — how long known, economically-minable reserves would last if production held steady and reserves never grew. It is a standard way to gauge relative scarcity across metals (gold and silver sit around 20-25 years, copper around 40), but it is descriptive, not predictive.

Does a 20-year reserve figure mean gold will run out?

No. Reserves are not a fixed stock of everything in the ground — they are the portion worth extracting under current economics. As prices rise, lower-grade deposits become economic and exploration adds new ounces, so reserves are routinely replenished. The reserves-to-production ratio has stayed broadly stable for decades even as billions of ounces were mined.

How much gold, silver, and copper is mined each year?

World mine production runs around 3,300 tonnes of gold, 26,000 tonnes of silver, and 23 million tonnes of copper a year, per the latest USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries. Platinum and palladium are far smaller — under 200 tonnes each. This page shows the latest annual figure for each metal, with the prior year for a year-over-year comparison.

Where does this data come from?

The figures are the world-total mine-production and reserves estimates from the U.S. Geological Survey's Mineral Commodity Summaries, published annually by the USGS National Minerals Information Center. The most recent production year is a USGS estimate; the prior year is an actual.