Original links are included though some may have expired.

The Numbers:

Quantity of gold mined, 5000 B.-.1960 A.D.: c. 80,000 tons
Quantity of gold mined, 1960 A.D.-2006 A.D.: c. 75,000 tons

What They Mean

"Trying to make money from buried treasures," according to 14^th-century Tunisian historian and philosopher ibn Khaldun, "is not a natural way to make a living." Despite wearisome rumors that sixth-century Byzantines, djinns, or wizards had buried caches of gems and precious metals in caves, ibn Khaldun believed the only gold-prospectors who ever grew rich were con men who traveled the Maghreb selling phony maps and shares in non-existent mines. As to the rest, "many weak-minded persons hope to discover riches under the earth and profit from them... their motive is their inability to earn money normally, through commerce, farming, or crafts. They trust instead that they can grow rich without effort or trouble."

Economics pioneer Adam Smith agreed, stating as a matter of principle that "of all those expensive and uncertain projects which bring bankruptcy upon the greater part of the people who engage in them, there is none perhaps more perfectly ruinous than the search after new gold and silver mines," and adding for good measure that "when any person undertakes to work a new mine in Peru, he is universally looked upon as a man destined to bankruptcy and ruin, and is upon that account shunned and avoided by everybody."

But though amateurs invariably go broke, professionals dig up more gold all the time. Overall, gold production has climbed steadily for at least a century -- rising from 500 tons in 1904 to 965 tons in 1954, and 2,430 tons in 2004, according to the U.S. Geological Survey -- and roughly half the gold mined in human history has been dug up since 1960. About half the total comes from five countries: South Africa leads with about 300 tons a year, followed by the United States, Australia, China, and Peru. (Nevada alone accounts for four-fifths of America's 260-330 tons of annual gold production.) The big buyers are jewelers, who accounted for 2,700 of the 3,700 tons of gold "consumed" in 2005. The other major buyers include electronics manufacturers at 280 tons, dentists at 62 tons, other industries 85 tons, and collectors or hoarders of various sorts 600 tons. India is the world's largest buyer of gold; its 500 tons-per-year purchasing accounts for about one-seventh of the total. Other big importers include Hong Kong, Dubai and other Persian Gulf monarchies, and Japan.

Further Reading

The U.S. Geological Survey has U.S. production, world production, and U.S. trade figures for gold and 98 other minerals from the early 20^th century through 2004. They include not only precious metals and gems but less glamorous materials such as salt, iron, peat, and cement.

Production of exotic platinum-group metals -- mainly platinum and palladium, but also iridium, osmium (at 23 grams per cubic centimeter, the heaviest substance in the world), rhodium and ruthenium -- has risen even faster than gold. Mines worldwide produced six tons of these metals a year in the early 20^th century, and 600 tons a year today. Likewise with gems: the Survey reports that production of diamonds, sapphires, rubies, emeralds, opals, pearls, etc., hit 10 tons in 1989 for the first time ever and 20 tons in 2004. In sharp contrast, peat production has stagnated. The 28 million tons of peat dug out of bogs and swamps in 2004 is barely one-twentieth of the 380 million tons produced in 1984, and roughly comparable to the average annual 27-million ton production in the 1930s: http://minerals.usgs.gov/ds/2005/140/

Gold & dentists -- The Massachusetts Dental Association explains the advantages of gold crowns:
http://www.massdental.org/public/
wordofmouth.cfm?doc_id=1526

Nothing new under the sun -- ibn Khaldun's con men have modern descendants: The Nevada Mining Commission warns a gullible public to steer clear of get-rich-quick schemes and "dirt pile swindles."
http://minerals.state.nv.us/programs/min_diggingdeep.htm

If you must -- Even metaphorical hunts often turn out poorly. Arguing against Clinton-era economic policies, for example, ex-House Republican Leader Dick Armey, for example, predicted in 1993 that Clinton-era economic policy would cause a disaster, and suggested that prudent Americans ought to sell stock and buy gold. In the next seven years stock indexes quadrupled, while gold prices fell from $380 to $280 per ounce, while market capitalization doubled. (But if Mr. Armey bought the gold and buried it, he could now dig it up again and sell it at a profit: At $630 per ounce, gold prices are now close to all-time highs.) For those determined to try anyway, the U.S. Geological Survey has advice on where to go to find gold, and how to do it:
http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/prospect2/prospectgip.html

The World Gold Council, a trade association of 25 of the world's big gold-mining companies based in 11 countries, has a valuable domain-name as well as a glamour product, and publishes statistics on gold production and use:
http://www.gold.org/

Each May 27, the Tunisian Community Center presents an annual ibn Khaldun Award to an accomplished Tunisian-American. The site has a link to a biography of the philosopher:
http://www.tunisiancommunity.org/content/section/7/49/

SPECIAL NOTE:

PPI's Trade Fact service will not publish next week in observance of the holidays. We wish all our readers Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and good fortune in 2007. In this season, some suggested charities at home and abroad:

The Defense Department suggests ways to support and thank American servicemen and women abroad:
http://www.americasupportsyou.mil/
americasupportsyou/help.html

The Clinton Foundation's HIV/AIDS initiative:
http://www.clintonfoundation.org/cf-pgm-hs-ai-home.htm

The Kingdom of Jordan, with 5 million citizens, is caring for 700,000 or more Iraqi refugees. Two options for support:

• Jordan Red Crescent Society:
  http://www.jordanredcrescent.org/


• Refugees International Iraq program:
  http://www.refugeesinternational.org/content/
  article/detail/9679

DC-based Project Hope International supports Southeast Asian children rescued from human traffickers: www.phi-ngo.org

International Rescue Committee's Afghanistan program:
http://www.theirc.org/where/the_irc_in_afghanistan.html