Gold flies high, but it gets harder to mine

Gold miners soar high as the metal trades at record prices, but it is getting harder and harder to dig into the ground.

Gold is one of the rarest metals in the earth’s crust, and much of the most readily obtainable ore has already been mined. What’s left is harder to find and more expensive to extract, say the miners.

While this is not an immediate concern, with the price of gold hitting $ 2,000 an ounce for the first time this month, miners face the long-term prospect of higher costs and drilling into deeper areas. less hospitable places. A massive sell-off in gold this week also reminded companies that high prices cannot be taken for granted.

Gold prices are up about 28% this year. Miners used the rally to pay down debt and raise dividends, rather than starting new projects, with policymakers fearing to repeat their costly over-expansion in the last sharp price hike.