Actually, total available gold is quite finite, as are resources of other minerals. I looked into this a few weeks ago.
All the gold mined in all human history amounts to about 175,000 metric tons, or 386 million pounds. And there's 7.3 billion of us humans.
That works out to about 24 grams of gold per person, or 0.84 standard ounces (0.77 troy ounces). At present rates of about $1,200 per ounce ($1,187.47 as I write this), it'd be worth slightly less than $1,000.
For copper, it's a kilo or two.
For numerous minerals and natural resources, remaining supplies range from a few years (antimony, 8), to a few decades (aluminium, 80 years).
All the gold mined in all human history amounts to about 175,000 metric tons, or 386 million pounds. And there's 7.3 billion of us humans.
That works out to about 24 grams of gold per person, or 0.84 standard ounces (0.77 troy ounces). At present rates of about $1,200 per ounce ($1,187.47 as I write this), it'd be worth slightly less than $1,000.
For copper, it's a kilo or two.
For numerous minerals and natural resources, remaining supplies range from a few years (antimony, 8), to a few decades (aluminium, 80 years).
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120618-global-resources-st...
Listed: antimony, indium, silver, copper, titanium, tantalum, phosphorus, aluminium, gas, oil, coal, agricultural land, coral reefs, rainforests.
Abundance!of!elements!in!Earth's!crust!is!pretty!interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abundance_of_elements_in_Earth...
Humans (and other life forms) use free energy to redistribute mineral resources. We're frightfully good at it.
https://ello.co/dredmorbius/post/5l_8MqtVwLLvX_DabPjY-g