Peak Gold?

peakoil.com (thread) -> theglobeandmail.com :

There's a growing gap between what gold consumers want and what producers can pull out of the ground. As gold soars past $530 an ounce, the same talk of peak oil that accompanied this year's energy price boom is starting to resurface, only this time its about how much gold is left to mine and how quickly producers can mine it. According to the World Gold Council, total gold supply in the third quarter of 2005 was 920 tonnes, which is 12.8% lower than total supply in the third quarter of 2003.

One of the main drivers of world demand for gold is jewellery. Sales in India, the world's biggest consumer of gold, have soared as the country's massive middle class scoops up the culturally important commodity. So far this year, end use consumption of gold for jewellery is up about 20 per cent from the same period last year.

The industry is reeling from high production costs. Currency fluctuations and rising commodity prices have made the energy-intensive work of mining gold all the more expensive, forcing companies to mothball pricey projects, Mr. Butler said. "At these prices lots of projects make more sense," he said. "But I don't think any big investors are going to make plans [based on] $525 gold just yet." ...

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