GOLD SURPLUS
Most of the gold ever mined is still with us and a lot more will be added to the total in the years ahead. New technologies have made it easier to find gold. It used to be that prospectors would find a rocky outcrop with some visible gold in it. An exploration company would follow up with drilling in the hope of finding enough gold to make a mine. Most of the time they struck out. Nowadays their odds have improved because not only can they see above ground, they can now see below ground. Airborne magnetic surveys disclose underground anomalies that can lead to the discovery of ore bodies. The use of geophysics leads to more mineral discoveries and more gold.
The high gold price also generates more aggressive exploration and mining companies are finding it much easier to procure the necessary funding for mine developments. So what are we going to do with all the gold these companies are going to find? Perhaps it’s provident and we will need more gold to serve as money again. Gold could either replace paper fiat money after hyperinflation or serve as a reserve supporting a currency’s value. In that case, we can use more gold. However, those possibilities seem remote at this juncture and a lot more gold could reduce its price. That is unless governments and individuals continue to aggressively hoard gold as they often have.
