When people imagine the world's gold supply, they might picture endless vaults and towering gold bars—but the reality is much smaller (literally). The total amount of gold ever mined and still in the ground is surprisingly limited. In fact, if you melted all the gold ever extracted, it would barely fill a few Olympic-sized swimming pools!

How Much Gold Has Been Mined?

According to the World Gold Council, as of 2023:

• About 208,874 metric tons (or 6.7 billion troy ounces) of gold have been mined in human history.

• If all that gold were melted into a cube, it would measure just 22 meters (72 feet) per side—smaller than you might think!

• In terms of volume, that’s only about three Olympic-sized swimming pools full of solid gold.

How Does That Compare to an Olympic Pool?

• 1 Olympic swimming pool holds ~2,500 cubic meters of water (~2,500 metric tons).

• All mined gold weighs about 83 Olympic pools in mass but takes up only 3 pools in volume because gold is so dense.

How Much Gold Is Left in the Ground?

There’s still some gold left to be mined—but not much:

• The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) estimates that about 50,000 metric tons of gold remain in the ground.

• This means we’ve already mined roughly 80% of all recoverable gold.

• At current mining rates (about 3,000 - 3,500 metric tons per year), most of the world’s known gold reserves could be extracted within 20-30 years.

Total Gold in the World (Mined + Unmined)

Gold Ever Mined:   

208,874 Metric Tons

3 Olympic pools (by volume)

Gold Still in the Ground:  

50,000 Metric Tons

Less than 1 Olympic pool (by volume)

Total Gold (Mined + Unmined):  

258,874 Metric Tons

4 Olympic pools (by volume)

It would take about four Olympic-sized swimming pools to hold all the gold ever mined and unmined.

How Long Until We Run Out of Gold?

• 3,000 - 3,500 metric tons of gold are mined every year.

• At this rate, most of the known gold could be extracted within 20-30 years.

• Fewer large gold deposits are being discovered, making future mining more difficult.

Fun Fact: 

Most of the easily accessible gold has already been mined. New deposits are either deep underground or in extreme locations like the ocean floor.

What’s Next? Mining the Deep Sea… or Space? 

With accessible gold running low, new technologies are being explored:

• Deep-sea mining aims to extract gold from the ocean floor.

• Asteroid mining could one day harvest gold from space.

• Gold recycling is increasing, reducing the need for fresh mining.

How Accurate Are These Estimates?

• Estimates are constantly updated as new deposits are found and mining technology advances.

• If gold prices rise, even low-grade deposits could become profitable to mine, increasing supply.