Gold is arguably the most precious metal in the world, but how rare is it really? We went on our own gold panning expedition to find out.

Correction (6:08): While there was active gold mining around Butte, Montana, the Berkeley Pit mine pictured was primarily a copper mine.

Further reading:

“Gold Panning is Easy” guidebook:
https://www.betterworldbooks.com/sear...

Article on the cosmic origin of gold:
https://www.quantamagazine.org/did-ne...

Study on gold-rich asteroid bombardment:
https://www.nature.com/articles/natur...

Gold Council statistics on gold supply:
https://www.gold.org/about-gold/gold-...

Earthworks “No Dirty Gold” campaign:
https://www.earthworks.org/campaigns/...

International mining standards guidance:
https://www.oecd.org/daf/inv/mne/OECD...

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