Speaker A
Hi Phil. Hi Georgie.
BBC 6 Minute English explains why gold is valuable: its scarcity, neutrality as a safe haven, and role as an asset during crises. Includes a quiz on gold mined to date.
Key Takeaways
- Gold's value comes from its scarcity, fixed supply, and neutrality.
- Gold serves as a safe haven asset during economic and political uncertainty.
- Gold prices fluctuate with crises and central bank demand but are expected to remain attractive long term.
What the video covers
- Gold has been used for thousands of years, with gold coins thought to date from the 6th century BC, as they were easier to carry and trade than cattle or timber.
- Although gold is not money, it is a financial asset: something valuable that can be sold for money.
- People buy gold in times of crisis because it is considered a safe haven, a store of value over the long term.
- Gold is neutral: it is not tied to any one government, economy, or market, unlike dollars or pounds.
- Gold supply is effectively fixed because it comes from mines and cannot be printed or created like paper money.
- When many people want gold, the limited supply pushes its price up.
- Gold prices reached an all-time high in early 2026, driven by world events such as wars in Ukraine and the Middle East and US tariffs, and by government banks buying more gold.
- After the January peak, the price dropped somewhat, but experts expect gold to remain attractive during uncertain times.
- Market strategist John Reade argues that in an increasingly virtual, ethereal world, people crave something solid and dependable like gold.
- The quiz answer is c) over 200,000 tonnes of gold extracted from the earth to date.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction: Do you own anything made of gold?
- 00:33Why gold prices hit a record high
- 00:55Quiz question: how much gold has been mined?
- 01:37The history of gold as money
- 02:08Gold as a financial asset and safe haven
- 03:00Why gold's supply limits its value
- 03:54Recent events and the 2026 price peak
- 04:44Expert view: the appeal of solid assets and quiz answer
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
I've got a question for you. Do you own anything made of gold?
Speaker A
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.
Speaker A
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.
Speaker A
The price of gold has always gone up and down, but in 2026 it reached its highest ever price.
Speaker A
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?
Speaker A
Let's start with our quiz question, Georgie. Gold is a metal that's extracted, or dug up from under the ground in mines.
Speaker A
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?
Speaker A
Phil, I have absolutely no idea, but I'm going to go with c) 200,000 tonnes.
Speaker A
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?
Speaker A
Well, before money was paper or plastic or just numbers in your bank account, a lot of it was actually gold.
Speaker A
And experts have discovered gold in coins that are thought to have been made in the 6th century BC.
Speaker A
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.
Speaker A
OK. But now our money isn't literally made of gold, so why is gold valuable?
Speaker A
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.
Speaker A
And people buy gold in times of crisis because it's thought of as a safe investment.
Speaker A
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.
Speaker A
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.
Speaker A
Yes, Suki explains that, unlike dollars or pounds, for example, gold is not connected to a particular country.
Speaker A
It's neutral. And Georgie, because we get gold from mines, there's more or less a fixed amount.
Speaker A
Unlike paper money, you can't just print more, as Catherine Schenk, professor of economic and social history, explains.
Speaker A
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.
Speaker A
Catherine explains that gold can't be created out of thin air, an expression meaning making something from nothing.
Speaker A
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.
Speaker A
And because we can't just magically make more gold, when lots of people want to buy gold, the price increases.
Speaker A
OK. Understood. Now, Phil, at the start of this programme, you said that gold prices hit an all-time high in early 2026.
Speaker A
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.
Speaker A
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.
Speaker A
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?
Speaker A
No. It's likely that the price will go up again. Experts believe that gold will always be an attractive investment during uncertain times.
Speaker A
Let's hear from market strategist John Reade. So much of the world we live in now is ethereal.
Speaker A
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.
Speaker A
And maybe it's a hankering for traditional values rather than what is super modern and super changeable.
Speaker A
John says that much of the modern world is ethereal, meaning it doesn't seem real.
Speaker A
And in this ethereal world, people have a hankering for something that's solid and real, like gold.
Speaker A
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.
Speaker A
OK. Well, I asked how much gold has been mined from the ground to date.
Speaker A
I said 200,000 tonnes. And that is the correct answer!
Speaker A
OK. Let's recap the vocabulary we learnt in this programme, starting with 'asset'.
Speaker A
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.
Speaker A
To make something out of thin air is an expression meaning to make something from nothing.
Speaker A
Alchemy is a kind of ancient chemistry that attempted to do impossible things, like making gold from ordinary metals.
Speaker A
If something is ethereal, it doesn't seem real. And if you have a hankering for something, you have a strong desire for it.
Speaker A
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.
Topics:goldinvestmentsafe havenfinancial assetgold pricesBBC Learning English6 Minute EnglishEnglish vocabularyeconomicscommodities
