GOLD
Gold has been used to store wealth for more than 3,000 years. Why? Because gold is very rare – and gold today is becoming ever-more difficult to find and mine.
Gold is six times more rare than platinum, and 18 times rarer than silver. Gold is also very nearly impossible to destroy. Unaffected by oxygen or hydrogen sulfide, gold cannot rust, tarnish or decay. Nor will gold melt below 1063 degrees Celsius. Gold is only dissolved by cyanide.
After 30 centuries of gold mining, new gold deposits are becoming ever harder to find. South Africa, the world's largest gold producing nation, has seen its gold output more than halve in the last decade.
Since 2008, the cash cost of mining one ounce of gold has doubled for North American gold miners. The rate of inflation for gold miners' all-in costs worldwide reached 27% last year.
The total amount of gold above-ground, however, is growing by just 1.6% per year.
Gold is six times more rare than platinum, and 18 times rarer than silver. Gold is also very nearly impossible to destroy. Unaffected by oxygen or hydrogen sulfide, gold cannot rust, tarnish or decay. Nor will gold melt below 1063 degrees Celsius. Gold is only dissolved by cyanide.
After 30 centuries of gold mining, new gold deposits are becoming ever harder to find. South Africa, the world's largest gold producing nation, has seen its gold output more than halve in the last decade.
Since 2008, the cash cost of mining one ounce of gold has doubled for North American gold miners. The rate of inflation for gold miners' all-in costs worldwide reached 27% last year.
The total amount of gold above-ground, however, is growing by just 1.6% per year.