The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

[old man]

Interesting article Dew. I disagree with two points:
1. He says that "virtually every oz ever mined is still around." Sure, but is every oz available for re-use? The link below suggests otherwise. Two examples are dental work and gold in cell phones which are discarded after about two years with little recycling.
2. Near the end he writes: "Only 15% of gold is used as a monetary metal; the rest of it is used as a commercial metal, and that use, particularly as a corrosion-resistant electrical conductor for semi-conductor, is declining." I infer that he is not including gold jewelry as commercial metal, yet that use outranks by far all other uses of gold combined.

Gold jewelry, particularly its use in Indian weddings, has a long cultural history. India and China are the world's largest consumers of gold. Both economies have strong growth projections as does India'a demographics. There may be disagreement over gold's future commercial utility, but the prospects for gold jewelry seem to be good.
From 1996 to 2008, world gold production has been fairly steady at around 80mm ozs with a minor downtrend from 05-08 (09?) with 08 production the lowest since 1996. One might expect increased exploratory effort given current prices but it would be accompanied by increased production costs which would tend to exert upward price pressure.
Aside from the monetary uses of gold, in my simple way of looking at things, it seems that coin-minting and bar hoarding increase in periods of economic instability/uncertainity/crisis while commercial and jewelry demand decrease. In good times these reverse so each economic state has its counterweight as it applies to gold.
As you know, my interest in gold is solely motivated by my position in GORO. I remain confident re it because of the richness and growing quantity of its metal bearing ore, because of its low production costs due to its rich gold and silver and substantial base metal content, and because of the likelihood that the company could be profitable even w/o gold production.
The Uses of Gold.
http://geology.com/minerals/gold/uses-of-gold.shtml
John