While gold demand and gold prices are at an all-time high, global gold production is facing a number of systemic challenges related to declining gold reserves, societal resistance, and rising costs. The global gold production system has responded to these challenges in three ways.
- By moving into new territories or by expanding existing operations (global expansion);
- By mobilizing cheap, flexible, and often informal labor (informalization);
- By adopting new technologies that increase value-to-volume ratios (technological innovation).
