How much gold is there on planet Earth

In summary, the amount of gold on planet Earth is estimated to be around 100,000 tonnes, with the potential for more to be mined depending on the fluctuating price of gold. However, this does not include the amount of gold that may exist in deposits that are not currently economically viable to mine.
  • #1
bozo the clown
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How much gold is there on planet Earth, rough estimates in tonnes ?
 
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  • #2
bozo the clown said:
How gold is there on planet Earth, rough estimates in tonnes ?

I don't happen to know.
I guess I would look in google
"abundance of the elements"

your question could be interepreted two ways

A. how much gold is commercially available or could be mined
at a certain price

(this depends very much on the price, if the price goes up enough they will go back to worked-out mines and get more gold out of the rock that they would not get with the present price)

B. how much gold actually is there in the Earth's crust, including deposits nobody would dream of mining, down to some depth

or how much gold is in the whole Earth not even restricting it to the crust.

-----
I am curious which type of question-----the commerical one or the physical one----you mean. It will be interesting to see if anyone answers. did you try googling "abundances of elements" or something like that?
 
  • #3
This page claims that there are 100,000 tons of gold yet to be retrieved from the Earth:

http://www.mii.org/Minerals/photogold.html [Broken]

Here is an old PF thread that came up on Google:

https://www.physicsforums.com/archive/t-2774
 
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1. How much gold is there on planet Earth?

As of 2021, it is estimated that there is a total of 197,576 tonnes of gold on planet Earth. This amount is equivalent to about 6 billion troy ounces.

2. Where is most of the gold located on Earth?

The majority of Earth's gold is found in the Earth's crust, with the largest deposits located in South Africa, Russia, and the United States. However, gold can also be found in smaller amounts in various countries around the world.

3. How is gold formed on Earth?

Gold is formed through a process called nucleosynthesis, which occurs during the explosion of a dying star. This process creates heavy elements, including gold, which are then spread throughout the universe. Some of these elements eventually make their way to Earth through meteorites.

4. Is all of Earth's gold accessible to humans?

No, not all of Earth's gold is accessible to humans. A large portion of it is located deep underground or in remote areas that are difficult to reach. Additionally, much of the gold is too small or dispersed to be economically viable to extract.

5. How much gold has been mined from Earth so far?

Since the beginning of civilization, it is estimated that around 190,000 tonnes of gold have been mined from Earth. This means that there is still a significant amount of gold left to be discovered and extracted from our planet.

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