historical data, world supply of gold

[redpillguy]

Hi,

Does anyone have data on the world supply of gold? More specifically I need the yearly change in percent - I expect it to be always a positive number, as the gold supply should be constantly increasing.

TIA

 

[WRellim]

Hi,

Does anyone have data on the world supply of gold? More specifically I need the yearly change in percent - I expect it to be always a positive number, as the gold supply should be constantly increasing.

TIA

Try here for starters: http://www.fgmr.com/gold.htm

Sorry it's not raw data... but it's a start.

Sidenote: Been seeing a lot of articles recently (see here) about "urban mining" -- apparently they are finding a higher concentration of gold (by an order of magnitude) by grinding down urban "refuse" (aka cell phones, etc) than typical gold mines -- which means a LOT of gold gets inadvertently "thrown away" via electronics (minimal per item, but large in the aggregate).

 

[redpillguy]

Thanks, I've seen that graph.

What I need is the derivative of that plot ... resolution is too low to do it visually.

If not a graph of % increase in gold supply year on year, tabulated data of the world supply would be great.

I have doubts about grinding down electronics. The amount of gold in microchips is on the order of a few cents per appliance if I'm not mistaken, and extracting it would be far more expensive.

 

[WRellim]

Thanks, I've seen that graph.

What I need is the derivative of that plot ... resolution is too low to do it visually.

If not a graph of % increase in gold supply year on year, tabulated data of the world supply would be great.

I have doubts about grinding down electronics. The amount of gold in microchips is on the order of a few cents per appliance if I'm not mistaken, and extracting it would be far more expensive.

Certainly on a small scale grinding down electronics is NOT worthwhile -- as with any intensive manufacturing process, the investment in the equipment require large volumes worth material to process in order to provide ROI. (But processing raw ore is no picnic either -- you are aware that minute {minuscule} amounts of gold are present virtually everywhere, it's just that the ROI of digging up your yard produces less than the amount you've devalued the property by, much less the cost of processing... there are much easier ways of making money!)

BUT... on a large scale (say if you are processing all of Chicago's electronic dumping) then it becomes a different thing altogether... Read the article I linked to above (also here http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/04/28/urban-mining-cell-phone-gold )

Here's the money quote:

Also, in a surprising study by Japanese recycling outfit Yokohama Metal, it turns out that whereas a tonne of gold ore from a mine produces approximately just 5 grams (0.18 ounce) of the yellow bling, a tonne of mobiles on a rubbish dump could contain up to 150 grams (5.3 ounce) of the shiny stuff. Not to mention the approximate 100 kg of copper, 3kg of silver and a whole host of other lucrative metals lying about.​

I know I've seen such historical data in the past... and I'm certain it is available somewhere online, you'll just have to put some more effort into finding it.

 

[Fight-n-Mad]

Not sure if this will meet your needs, but the World Gold Council has some supply and demand statistics on their site. You need to register to get the full files. I'm not sure how far back they go. http://www.research.gold.org/supply_demand/

As a side note, they're also developing catalytic converters using gold. The site mentioned above a section on uses for gold. http://www.utilisegold.com/uses_applications/