Gold has proven to be a good long-term storehouse of wealth in times of deep crisis. Everyone is anxious for the price of gold to go up. But why is gold so important?
In addition to being a precious metal, gold has many uses. Gold can be used in all electronics and less so in industry, it is basically the most useful precious metal for humanity. It has a lot of properties that many metals do not have. Over the years more uses for gold were discovered which impacted the demand for this precious metal. It is a practical precious metal that is valuable for a lot of reasons but gold is not available in infinite amounts.
The metal is mined in many countries across the globe. It has played a major role in history and spurred the migration of people who struck out of their homes in search of wealth. Getting gold is a painstaking process. In the beginning of the gold rushes, the precious metal was mostly found close to the surface of the ground and in streams. Things have changed over the years and gold has become harder to get to. The precious metal must be removed from the ground and then processed. To date, an estimated 160,000 tons of gold have been mined from Australia alone. The fact that mining operations are still going on and new discoveries are still being made in different parts of the world, no one knows if this is the most gold we can get. The total unmined underground reserves that mining companies have yet to obtain is estimated at about 50,000. People buy gold bullion for a variety of reasons, but whatever those reasons are, gold recycling helps keep the demand and supply balance.
How is all gold used?
95% of the world’s gold is stored as a treasure in safes or as jewellery. Some of it goes to electronics and a little goes to dentistry. Gold is not an infinite resource. The inability of gold to expand artificially in response to certain economic catastrophes has made gold a more reliable repository of purchasing power than the dollar or any other currency in the world. Gold is valued for its exceptional quality, uniqueness, and the demand for gold causes an increase in the purchasing power of gold.
It is easy for everyone to buy gold bullion, especially coins because they are smaller, portable and collectible. While buying gold is good, there are good reasons why you might want to sell all the gold coins you can.
Owning gold or storing old gold coins and bars can be stressful. Because it is so expensive and so precious, you need to make sure it is insured. The gold market needs your gold in order to keep supplying industries that really need it. However, gold isn’t an industrial metal but an investment asset that is a good store of wealth. Gold is an important asset that you can easily liquidate when you need the cash.