Gold: Characteristics
Why 22 and 18 carat jewellery is not pure gold
What this tab covers The supply and physical characteristics of the commodity. Supply: current production, inventories and stocks, capacity utilisation, geographic and producer concentration, how fast supply responds to price, the project pipeline and capital spending, and logistics and export flows. Material: the physical and chemical properties that set its grade, price and end uses (for example purity and conductivity for metals, API gravity, sulfur and energy content for fuels, moisture, protein and fibre quality for crops).Supply volume characteristics
| Characteristic | Figure | What it means | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Current production volume | about 3,300 t mine output (2025e); 3,672 t including artisanal (WGC); 1,404 t recycled (2025) | USGS puts mine output at 3,280 t in 2024 and 3,300 t in 2025. Recycling of jewellery and scrap added 1,404 t in 2025, 28% of total supply. | USGS MCS 2026, Gold; World Gold Council, Gold Demand Trends FY2025 |
| Inventory and stock levels | above-ground stock of roughly 216,000 t (indicative), about 65 years of mine output; US Treasury alone holds 8,130 t | Almost all gold ever mined still exists as jewellery, bars, coins and central bank reserves. Central banks bought 863 t in 2025 and gold ETFs added 619 t in the first nine months of 2025. Because stocks dwarf annual output, price is set by who wants to hold the stock, not by mine flow. | WGC above-ground stocks estimate, end-2024 (indicative); USGS MCS 2026 (Treasury stocks, ETF flows); WGC FY2025 (central banks) |
| Capacity utilisation | not published | Mines run at full capacity whenever price exceeds cash cost, so utilisation is not a useful gauge. Refining capacity is ample: India's MMTC-PAMP alone can refine 300 t a year, against India's imports of 721 t in FY2025-26. | ICRA (Jul 2026) on MMTC-PAMP; commerce ministry data as reported |
| Geographic and producer concentration | China 11.3%; top-3 (China, Russia, Australia) 29.8%; HHI 489; top-4 companies about 15% of mine output | Gold is the least concentrated large metal. Newmont (5.9 Moz, about 183 t), Agnico Eagle (3.45 Moz, 107 t), Barrick (3.26 Moz, 101 t) and Zijin (90 t) together mined about 480 t in 2025, roughly 15% of world output. | World Mining Data 2024 shares and HHI; company 2025 results (Newmont, Agnico Eagle, Barrick, Zijin via Mysteel) |
| Supply elasticity | low for mines (10-20 years from discovery to output, indicative); high for recycling (weeks) | Mine output rose only from about 3,200 t in 2020 to 3,300 t in 2025 while prices more than doubled. Scrap supply, in contrast, jumps within weeks when prices spike, especially from Indian and Middle Eastern households. Reserves are about 20 years of output. | USGS MCS 2026; WGC FY2025; S&P Global lead-time studies (indicative) |
| Project pipeline and CapEx | modest: large projects add a few hundred koz a year each, against 106 Moz of world output | Examples: Newmont's Ahafo North in Ghana (started 2025, about 275-325 koz a year), Polyus's Sukhoi Log in Russia (planned about 2.3 Moz a year late this decade) and Barrick's Reko Diq copper-gold project in Pakistan (first production targeted 2028). Record prices in 2025-26 lifted exploration and M&A more than new builds. | Company announcements (indicative) |
| Logistics and export flows | world trade in HS 7108 was $502 billion of exports in 2024; Switzerland 23%, UK 13%, Hong Kong 11% of exports | Gold moves by air between mines, Swiss refineries, London vaults and consumer hubs. Imports are led by Switzerland (18.9%), China (18.4%), the UK (13.7%), Hong Kong (11.7%) and India (10.3%). Bottlenecks are refining and bar-size conversion (400-oz London bars to 1-kg bars for Asia), plus tariffs and duties that open premiums between London, New York and Mumbai. | UN Comtrade 2024 (HS 7108) |
Material characteristics Metal / hard commodity
Gold matters commercially because it does not tarnish or corrode, so a bar or a bangle keeps its value for centuries. Purity (fineness) sets the price and which market will accept a bar. Pure gold is very soft, so jewellery is alloyed with copper and silver to 22 or 18 carat. Its conductivity and corrosion resistance make it the standard for reliable electronic contacts.
| Property | Value / specification | Why it matters | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purity / fineness | LBMA Good Delivery: at least 99.5% Au, 350-430 oz bars; kilobars usually 99.99%; India BIS hallmark 22K = 91.6%, 18K = 75% | Sets which vaults and exchanges accept the metal and the jewellery price per gram | LBMA Good Delivery Rules; BIS IS 1417 |
| Density | 19.32 g/cm3 | Lets assayers detect tungsten-filled or under-carat items; makes gold compact to store | CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics |
| Malleability and ductility | most malleable metal: 1 g can be beaten into about 1 m2 of leaf | Allows fine filigree, gold leaf and bonding wire | CRC Handbook (indicative) |
| Hardness | pure gold about 25 HV (annealed); 22K and 18K alloys several times harder | Pure gold scratches and bends, so jewellery uses alloys | Metals handbooks (indicative) |
| Corrosion resistance | does not oxidise in air; dissolves only in aqua regia or cyanide solutions | Underpins its role as a store of value and in contacts | CRC Handbook |
| Electrical conductivity | about 45 MS/m (about 75% of copper) | Reliable low-resistance contacts and bonding wire in electronics | CRC Handbook |
| Melting point | 1,064 C | Low enough for easy refining and re-melting of scrap | CRC Handbook |