How much gold is on earth?

A figure that is widely used by investors comes from Thomson Reuters GFMS, which produces an annual gold survey. Their latest figure for all the gold in the world is 171,300 tonnes - which is almost exactly the same as the amount in our super-villain's imaginary cube. read more

Image caption There is much gold still in the ground, like here in Democratic Republic of Congo Its experts believe that if we emptied our bank vaults and jewellery boxes, we'd find no less than 2.5 million tonnes of gold - though they admit that the evidence is somewhat sparse and the figure is a bit speculative. read more

So we’ve estimated that within 4000m of the surface of Earth’s crust there is 35 billion tons of gold. With a remaining 87 billion under the ocean. Only a small portion of that is concentrated enough to mine. read more

There is enough gold at earth's core to cover the surface of the planet in 12’ to 13’ depth. Learn more interesting gold facts from the earth's core. read more