Well, if you’re wonderin’ how much gold there is on this ol’ Earth, I reckon we can get a rough idea by takin’ a look at what we’ve already dug up and what’s still waitin’ deep in the ground. Now, to start with, it’s said that about 244,000 metric tons of gold has been found so far. That’s a big ol’ number, and it’s made up of two parts. First, there’s about 187,000 metric tons that we’ve already pulled outta the Earth, and then there’s another 57,000 metric tons still buried underground waitin’ to be discovered.
Now, it ain’t all spread out evenly across the world, no sir. The biggest chunk of that gold comes from just three countries: China, Australia, and South Africa. These places have done most of the hard work, diggin’ and pullin’ the shiny stuff from deep below the surface. But even though that seems like a lot, there’s still more gold buried deeper than we can reach right now. Some folks say that there’s about 400,000 tons sittin’ way down there, just waitin’ for the right tools to get at it.
Now, let’s get to talkin’ money. If we take the gold that’s been dug up, 197,576 tons, and figure out what it’s worth, we can get a big ol’ number. That gold is worth about $15.3 trillion in today’s prices. Imagine that, trillions of dollars just sittin’ in the ground, waitin’ to be turned into shiny jewelry, coins, and other things folks use to trade. And that’s not even countin’ the gold still buried deep underground!
The gold that’s been dug up, they say, has mostly come from mines in those countries I mentioned. China, Australia, and South Africa have made a lot of the gold that gets passed around, bought, and sold. But even though we’ve pulled out a lot, there’s still more waitin’. It’s been estimated that we’ve only gotten about 60% of the gold that’s out there, with the rest still sittin’ under our feet. So, there’s still plenty of gold to be found if folks are willing to dig for it.
Now, folks like to wonder if there’s enough gold for everything we might want to do with it. If we’re talkin’ about using gold for money, or for buildin’ fancy stuff, or just for keepin’ around as a shiny treasure, there’s plenty to go ‘round. But if we start thinkin’ about all the gold that’s deep underground, then we’re talkin’ about a lot more than what’s been dug up so far. And, since gold don’t wear out or lose value, it could keep comin’ back up as the years go by.
Even though folks have been diggin’ up gold for thousands of years, some estimates say that there’s still about 20% of all the gold out there yet to be dug up. With new technologies and bigger tools, we might be able to get at more of that gold down the road. But for now, it’s still deep in the Earth, waitin’ for someone to come and get it.
All in all, if you’re wonderin’ how much gold exists on this here Earth, we’re lookin’ at somewhere around 244,000 metric tons of the stuff that’s been discovered so far, with maybe another 400,000 tons still hidden away, waitin’ for the right time to come to the surface. And with gold still holdin’ such value, I reckon we’ll keep lookin’ for it as long as we can.
Tags:[gold, gold reserves, Earth, total gold, gold discovered, gold mining, gold worth, underground gold]