While precious metal investors cheer on gold’s relentless rise in 2024, others are learning the hard way about political risk. For years, we’ve written about the perils of resource nationalism and understanding the geopolitical and geographical risk of gold mining. As the gold bull market begins, investors are looking around at who actually produces gold and wondering where to allocate funds. As is often the case, North America is home to many of the safest jurisdictions in the world. And as gold soars to new heights, mining gold may not be the only way as tech enthusiasts look to extract high-purity gold from old electronics.

Burkina Faso | Got Gold?

As the price of gold rallies, contempt for foreign miners will only increase. It became too much for Burkina Faso as President Ibrahim Traore expressed a plan to withdraw mining permits and promote indigenous mining establishments. In short, the country wants to increase gold autonomy by replacing foreign miners with local ones.

Endeavour Mining, one of the world’s largest gold producers with assets in Burkina Faso, was hit hard Monday morning, falling more than 3% on the day.

One just has to look at First Quantum’s Cobre Panama, a prime example of resource nationalism. It saw one of the largest new copper mines in the world, which the Panamanian government effectively stole after First Quantum spent billions to bring it online.

The Annual Survey of Mining Companies, 2023, was published on May 14, 2024. It is a report by the Fraser Institute that “…assesses the impact of mineral endowments and policy factors on attitudes toward exploration investment.”

Top 12 Gold Mining Nations

While gold has recently pulled back, it has spent the better part of the year making new, nominal highs, thereby increasing the profits of many of the world’s largest gold miners. So, who has the gold?

In a recent YouTube Short, we document the world’s top 12 gold-producing nations.

Urban Mining: Recycling Your Way to Riches

For example, a ton of e-waste can contain about 0.5 to 1 gram of gold, while traditional gold mining produces only 1-2 grams of gold per ton of ore. Thus, e-waste recycling is a much more concentrated source of gold.

In cen.acs.org’s “Electronic waste is a gold mine waiting to be tapped,” they explain the magnitude of just how much e-waste the world creates each year.

“Globally, people discarded a record 62 million metric tons (t) of electronics, according to the United Nations’ recent Global E-waste Monitor 2024 report. That’s the weight of over 1.7 million fully loaded semitrailer trucks, which, if lined up bumper to bumper, would reach almost around the equator.”

Furthermore,

“And that trash contains treasure. Metals made up half the world’s electronic trash, or e-waste, in 2022 and were worth $91 billion. Copper, iron, and gold accounted for a big chunk of that value.”

Swiss Target Gold Extraction

Swiss refineries process around 60-70% of the world’s newly mined gold annually. This includes gold mined globally and from recycled sources such as jewelry and electronic waste. Well, the electronic waste they recycle may be about to go up.

A group of researchers in Zurich, Switzerland, have discovered a new method for extracting high-purity gold from old electronics.

In Swiss fashion, cheesemakers were involved. They used whey, the watery portion of milk that separates from the curds when making cheese, as an absorbent to remove gold from e-waste.

As gold’s bull market continues amidst massive devaluation of fiat currencies globally, investors and countries will fight over the precious metal. As gold becomes too expensive for nations to purchase legally, they will seize assets in their home countries. In short, as the cost of living continues to rise unabated at the behest of the money printers, everyone, from governments to citizens, will turn to gold as one way to preserve purchasing power – whether it is through resource nationalism or urban mining.