Why gold is so valuable ⏲️ 6 Minute English

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Hi Phil. Hi Georgie. I've got a question for you. Do you own anything made of gold? Well, at the moment I'm wearing a lot of gold-coloured jewellery, but I'm not sure exactly how much of it is made of

gold. OK. I don't think I own anything made of gold. Beyond jewellery and other personal items, gold is bought and sold by investors and banks. The price of gold has always gone up and down, but in 2026 it

reached its highest ever price. In this episode of 6 Minute English, we'll be talking about how gold became a valuable investment and asking the question, why do people buy gold? Let's start with our quiz question, Georgie. Gold is

a metal that's extracted or dug up from under the ground in mines. But how much gold has been extracted from the earth? Is it: a) over 50,000 tonnes, b) over 100,000 tonnes, or c) over 200,000 tonnes? Phil, I

have absolutely no idea, but I'm going to go with c) 200,000 tonnes. OK. Well, we'll give you the answer at the end of the programme. OK Phil. So, we've been using gold for thousands of years, but why and

how did it start? Well, before money was paper or plastic or just numbers in your bank account, a lot of it was actually gold. And experts have discovered gold in coins that are thought to have been made in

the 6th Century BC. So, gold coins were made and they were used because the metal was much easier to carry and trade than things like cattle or timber. OK. But now our money isn't literally made of gold, so

why is gold valuable? It's a good question, but even though it isn't money, gold is still a financial asset, and an asset is something valuable that could be sold for money. And people buy gold in times of crisis

because it's thought of as a safe investment. Let's listen to expert Suki Cooper explaining more to the BBC World Service. Gold is a safe haven because it's not connected to one particular government or one particular economy or one

particular market, so the fact that it's neutral means it's an asset that's perceived to be a store of value over a longer term. Suki describes gold as a safe haven, and a safe haven means something or somewhere that's

protected from harm or danger, or in financial terms, from a fall in value. Yes, Suki explains that, unlike dollars or pounds for example, gold is not connected to a particular country. It's neutral. And Georgie, because we get gold

from mines, there's more or less a fixed amount. Unlike paper money, you can't just print more, as Catherine Schenk, professor of economic and social history, explains. It can't be created and fabricated out of thin air through alchemy, and

so this, sort of, controls the supply and sustains an underlying value behind the demand for gold. Catherine explains that gold can't be created out of thin air, an expression meaning making something from nothing. As Catherine says, we don't

make gold through alchemy. Alchemy is an ancient kind of chemistry that attempted to do impossible things, like turn ordinary metals into gold. And because we can't just magically make more gold, when lots of people want to buy gold,

the price increases. OK. Understood. Now, Phil, at the start of this programme, you said that gold prices hit an all-time high in early 2026. So, what's going on? Well, we mentioned that the price of gold increases in times

of crisis because government banks want to buy more of it. And there has been a series of world events that have made government banks want to buy more gold, for example the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East,

and in politics too, for example the US imposing tariffs on international products. But since that peak in January, the price has dropped a bit. OK. And does the fall in the price of gold mean that people won't want

to invest in it in the future? No. It's likely that the price will go up again. Experts believe that gold will always be an attractive investment during uncertain times. Let's hear from market strategist John Reade. So much of

the world we live in now is ethereal. It's... it's virtual, it's online, it disappears, whereas gold is something solid, something dependable and, you know, maybe something a little bit old fashioned. And maybe it's a hankering for traditional values

rather than what is super modern and super changeable. John says that much of the modern world is ethereal, meaning it doesn't seem real. And in this ethereal world, people have a hankering for something that's solid and real, like

gold. And the expression 'a hankering for' means a strong desire for something. OK. Phil, I think it's time for the answer to your quiz question. OK. Well, I asked how much gold has been mined from the ground to

date. I said 200,000 tonnes. And that is the correct answer! OK. Let's recap the vocabulary we learnt in this programme, starting with 'asset'. And an asset is something of financial value that can be sold for money. A safe

haven is something or somewhere protected from harm or loss. To make something out of thin air is an expression meaning to make something from nothing. Alchemy is a kind of ancient chemistry that attempted to do impossible things, like

making gold from ordinary metals. If something is ethereal, it doesn't seem real. And if you have a hankering for something, you have a strong desire for it. Once again, our six minutes are up, and if you have a

hankering for more practice, test what you've learned with the worksheet on our website. That's bbclearningenglish.com. Thank you for joining us. Goodbye. Goodbye!