Take a COOL Guess – the Fun Quiz on Clean Energy. Today’s Topic: Eco-friendly Gold
Question: Can you guess the average amount of mine waste that results from the production of one gold ring?
Answer: Can be found at http://2greenenergy.com/cool-guess-answers/8732.
Relevance: Everyone likes gold rings, but, considering we’re all concerned about sustainability, we may want to check out http://greenkarat.com/ for wedding bands, etc. based on “post-consumer gold.”
Craig,
The amount of gold in a necklace or ring is meaningless. What is driving further exploration/extraction of gold is the commodity pits. I would suspect the average middle class household might have 2-5 oz total of gold in the house (assuming that only the gold portion of the jewelry is counted.)
But it’s not unusual for an investment portfolio to have 5-15% of its value tied up in gold… If you have a $100,000 401K, then that’s 3-9 oz right there… but some of the big players may have quantities measured in kg or even TONS.
That kind of mass in bullion is what is driving the major excavation for more AU. If environmentally-minded people simply chose to eschew gold as an investment, then the value would fall (fixed supply, less demand), which would immediately kill the profit of much of the most wasteful excavation projects. With millions upon millions of tons of bullion of gold, using a half-an-ounce to give a bauble to your wife isn’t really going to change anything…
😉
However, it would be quite interesting if 10 million+ environmentalists suddenly sold off and refused to purchase more commodity gold.
In retrospect, most baubles probably have less than 0.2 oz of gold in them… I was just thinking the average price of jewelry baubles is ~$1000.
My own household has far less gold than what I assumed as an average, because my wife isn’t that interested in jewelry… so I haven’t really thought about the gold mass in jewelry much.
The point is still the same, however.
“I would suspect the average middle class household might have 2-5 oz total of gold in the house (assuming that only the gold portion of the jewelry is counted.)”
That sounds like a reasonable guess here in the U. S. of A. However, in some cultures, Au jewelry is practically hoarded; it is in India among people who can afford it.
The environmental cost of mining and refining Au is a serious problem. As an industrial metal, there is no substitute for it, but using it for other purposes, considering the environmental cost, is unconscionable.