Gold - One of the rarest, and most sought-after, metals on earth, It cannot be fabricated by man and its supply is limited by nature.
For the past 6,000 years gold has acted as the ultimate store of value, trusted by individuals worldwide over paper investments and currencies.
In a sense, gold is a financial currency that rises when confidence in other financial assets such as stocks and bonds decline as it does not depend on anybody's promise to repay and cannot be inflated or devalued by governments.
Supply & Demand Facts
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Even though gold has been mined for thousands of years only about 110,000 metric tons have ever been produced. To put this in perspective, combining all the gold ever mined would create a cube measuring 18 meters along each side easily fitting under the Eiffel Tower.
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Only 2,500 metric tons of gold are mined annually, an amount that could easily fit into a small house.
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Demand for gold is roughly 3,500 metric tons annually and is spread amongst Investors, Central Banks, Industrial Companies and the Jewlery market.
The Case for Gold
For the past decade gold production has been declining, while demand has been increasing. The amount of new mine discoveries per year has also been declining, leading to an imbalance in the marketplace.
All signs point towards this trend continuing as many of the world's largest deposits have been identified or exhausted.
Historically, Gold was the backing of all financial assets. Today globally, there are USD 140 trillion in other financial assets world-wide making the current value of all the gold ever mined only 4% of that total.
