On: Gold is now the top U.S. export

[jfengel]

Huh. I'd have thought that capacity would rise with ore supply. It is "free money". Why leave it in the ground?

Sounds as if there is a point at which digging and refining is more expensive than buyers are willing to pay, so when demand goes up it takes time to expand supply.

[WJW → jfengel]

Refining takes big machines and a lot of energy. It's pretty much the opposite of free money, you need to invest a lot to unlock the revenue stream.

[elictronic → jfengel]

China likes blocking various minerals such as rare earths to force countries to accept whatever outcome they desire.

I’m guessing those new mines opening are to limit the impact of this sort of situation in the future.