The latest research from S&P Global Commodity Insights noted that in 2024, the industry added just three major deposits to its global database. This addition raised the reserves from 2.9 billion ounces over 350 deposits to 3 billion ounces over 353 deposits. Still, these new entries are not fresh finds in the traditional sense; most were discovered decades ago and have only recently met the two-million-ounce threshold to qualify for the list.

The recent gold price performance has been extraordinary. Starting in late 2022, prices began to climb steadily, driven by geopolitical tensions and renewed central bank buying. By late 2023, gold broke through the $2,000 per ounce level for the first time in years, and by March 2025, it surpassed $3,000 per ounce amid ongoing conflicts in Europe, heightened Middle Eastern unrest, and the economic reverberations of U.S. tariffs. April 2025 saw gold briefly touch $3,500 per ounce during a full-blown trade war between the United States and China, as investors rushed into safe-haven assets.

This situation is partly due to a pronounced shift in industry strategy. The share of grassroots or early-stage exploration within total budgets has dropped to just 19% in 2024, down from 50% in the mid-1990s. Companies have become increasingly risk-averse, preferring to expand known deposits rather than gamble on untested regions. S&P’s analysis shows that more than half of the initial resource announcements made between 2020 and 2024 came from existing projects.

The complexities of modern gold exploration add to the slowdown. Political instability in emerging markets can derail promising projects, while environmental and permitting hurdles remain formidable. The controversial Pebble mine project in Alaska, which contains one of the world’s largest undeveloped gold resources, is one of the best examples showing that even a groundbreaking discovery can end up in a mining limbo.