Time for the second edition of the most interesting charts of the period this year. In particular, we will look at the prospects of extracting natural materials, including gold and oil, as well as assessing where copper is coming from on Comex. Furthermore, the European Central Bank has provided interesting information on the usage of cash, which you will besides read in our summary. You will besides find out why the question of emerging markets is becoming more legitimate. Welcome to the reading!
The era of large gold discoveries is over?
The illustration below shows the number of discoveries of completely fresh gold deposits in individual years, which were at least 2 million ounces of metal. According to him, in 2023 and 2024 a full of... 0 of this kind of deposits. This is the first time in history.

You may wonder why the threshold of 2 million ounces was adopted. I'm in a hurry to explain.
While smaller deposits are discovered, they do not importantly affect the marketplace situation and are frequently below investment profitability for mines. Miners are so looking for large deposits (2 million ounces and larger ones) that will let many years of extraction.
The above illustration shows 1 of the main problems on the gold supply side in the following years. Meanwhile, request for royal metallic persists, for example, due to purchases of central banks. specified an environment is another argument for the long-term increase in the price of gold, but besides the forecasting period of mergers and acquisitions in the mining industry.
Africa – a risky origin of key natural materials
The solution to the problem of not only the gold deficit but besides many another natural materials could be Africa, which accounts for 30% of all known mineral resources globally. The scale of this possible is shown in the following map published by Africa Finance corp (I encourage you to usage ]]>link ]]>and downloading the map in full resolution). We see on it various deposits of most key natural materials from the point of view of modern technologies specified as uranium, silver, copper or uncommon earth metals.

Data show that Africa's share of resources and production of key natural materials is as follows:
- Platinum: 90% of planet resources (mainly South Africa and Zimbabwe). Essential in catalysts and hydrogen technologies.
- Cobalt: 70-75% of planet production comes from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is simply a key component of lithium-ion batteries.
- Chromium: 85% of planet quality resources. Essential for stainless steel production.
- Manganese: 80% of planet resources (mainly South Africa). Key for steel and battery production.
- Tantalum: 60-70% of production (DRK, Rwanda). essential in any smartphone and laptop (condensers).
- Gold: about 40% of planet resources.
At the same time, Africa remains the least geologically explored continent on Earth. Canada spends over US$2 billion a year searching, while all African countries spend just over US$1 billion. This shows that if the Black Land were not so politically unstable, there would most likely be a lot more deposits discovered.
Continue reading: ]]>How do I start investing? - Independent Trader]]>
Source: ]]>https://independenttrader.pl/return-gots-and-end-tan-raw-February-2026-on-prints/]]>
Author: Paul Cream









