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Diamond prices are down 60% since a 2011 high, and they are still falling. It's not all down to lab-grown diamonds, demand is down too, especially in China.

No one can lab-grow gold yet, so its rarity and scarcity protect its value, but that will end too. It's just a question of when. China launched an asteroid touch-down mission this week, which will make it the 4th country/region to do so, after Europe, the US & Japan.

How soon will it be feasible to mine asteroids? Who knows, but a breakthrough in space propulsion might mean the prospect happens quickly when it does. It's possible gold has twenty years or less of being high value left.

The $80 Billion Diamond Market Crash Leaves De Beers Reeling

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[-] Sodium_nitride@lemmygrad.ml 1 points 2 months ago

Gold mining is fairly expensive. According to this website, gold mining currently has a operating profit margin of 30%, while the average public company has an operating margin of 27%.

This lines up relatively well with this other dataset of US companies reporting 32% gross profit margins (go to the bottom of the page).

So it seems to me that gold mining isn't really that "special" compared other commodities.

this post was submitted on 01 Jun 2025
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