Peak Oil and Peak Gold

As someone who has kept track of the “Peak Oil” movement for a few years now, it comes as no surprise that oil prices have risen nearly six fold since they hit rock bottom in the late 1990s. Does this mean Peak Oil has already arrived? Not necessarily, but we note that a final peak in global oil production needs to be preceded by a continual decrease in excess crude oil production capacity. When capacity reaches zero, then Peak Oil arrives. That capacity has been dropping now for several years.

But what can that current debate about oil teach us about gold? Gold, like oil, has been continuously rising in price for five years. Admittedly, its performance has been poor compared to oil, but does this price mechanism also indicate the mining equivalent of reducing “excess spare capacity” and is it also a prelude to “Peak Gold”? My conclusions led me to believe that these two commodities are similar in terms of a Hubbert’s Peak analysis and in terms of the effects of a peak in global production.

goldseek