Last year, an Australian family found a gold nugget just laying on the ground. Needless to say, this doesn’t happen every day. In fact, finding a gold nugget is quite unusual – even a small one. But every once in a while, somebody discovers a massive nugget. The biggest nugget ever discovered was over 600 pounds!
The Federal Reserve held its first FOMC meeting of 2020. It was mostly met with yawns as the Fed held rates steady, and despite a somewhat dovish tone, indicated that it probably wouldn’t make any moves on interest rates this year. We’ve grown so used to low interest rates that it barely registers that the Fed is actually engaged in extreme monetary policy. Extreme has become the new normal. In this week’s Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey talks about it. He also touches on the Q4 GDP report and some interesting gold supply and demand trends.
Which countries produce most of the world’s gold?
Gold mine output has flatlined over the last several years and that trend appears to be continuing in 2019. Gold production rose fractionally in 2018 by about 1% totaling 3,346.9 tons. That compared with 3,318.92 tons mined in 2017 — a modest 28-ton increase year-on-year. According to the World Gold Council’s Gold Demand Trends Q3 report, on a year-to-date basis, mine production ended the third quarter at 2,583 tons. That’s virtually identical to production levels at this point in 2018.
Gold mine output has flatlined over the last several years and that trend appears to be continuing in 2019. In fact, some analysts believe we may be at or near “peak gold.”
According to the World Gold Council’s Gold Demand Trends Q3 report, gold mine output fell slightly with total mine production coming in at 877.8 tons in Q3. On a year-to-date basis, mine production stands at 2,583 tons. That’s virtually identical to production levels at this point in 2018.
Gold demand was up 3% in the third quarter, coming in at 1,107. 9 tons, according to the Gold Demand Trends Q3 2019 report put out by the World Gold Council.
Record inflows of gold into ETFs overcame weakness in the jewelry, and gold bar and coin markets to push overall demand higher.
Gold mine output dropped slightly, but a surge in recycling drove a modest gain in supply.
Gold is the “shining embodiment of wealth.” It is not only used to add “extra bling” to our lives; it is also an important component in expensive high-tech electronics and medical devices. Even more fundamentally, gold is money.
But why is gold so expensive — even more valuable than other rarer metals? A video put together by Business Insider offers some perspective. Simply put, it’s a matter of supply and demand. People want gold and there isn’t very much of it.
Here is a summary of some of the significant economic data/news that came out last week.
Third-quarter 2019 new orders for durable goods remain on track for a second annual decline. August 2019 Real New Orders for Durable Goods showed a monthly gain of 0.2% [1.0% ex-Commercial Aircraft], but an annual decline of 4.9% [down by 2.1% (-2.1%) ex-Commercial Aircraft].
Mine output fell significantly in three of the world’s top silver-producing countries through the first half of the year.
Peru’s silver production fell 10%, mine output in Mexico fell 4%, and silver production in Chile was down 7%, according to data released by government agencies in those three countries.
The world’s largest primary silver producer reported a plunge in production in the first quarter of the year, continuing a global trend of declining silver output.
Total silver production at Fresnillo PLC dropped by 15% in Q1. The company blamed falling mine output on lower ore grades and reduced volume of processed ore.
Is the world really running out of gold?
According to a report in Deutsche Welle, it just might be.
