In 20 years, the world may run out of minable gold

30-Mar (MarketWatch) — In another two decades rare commodities may become seriously scarce.

According to Goldman Sachs, the world has about 20 years each of known minable reserves of gold GCJ5, -1.21% diamonds and zinc. Platinum PLJ5, -2.08% copper HGK5, +0.56% and nickel reserves only have about 40 years or less left.

“The combination of very low concentrations of metals in the Earth’s crust, and very few high-quality deposits, means some things are truly scarce,” Eugene King, European metals and mining analyst at Goldman Sachs, wrote in a recent research note.

“Gold has been used as a measure of wealth for more than 4,000 years, as the ancient Egyptians soon worked out that gold was not only shiny and heavy, but rare,” he said.

…“Peak gold is not a new concept at all,” said Peter Grant, analyst at precious-metals dealer USAGOLD. “Mining output has been fairly flat for years, but new discoveries of gold have been falling rapidly.”

Still, “if we do reach peak gold in the near future, one would logically expect this to be broadly supportive to the price of gold for years to come,” said Grant.

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