Gold is arguably the most precious metal in the world, but how rare is it really? We went on our own gold panning expedition to find out. Correction (6:08): While there was active gold mining around Butte, Montana, the Berkeley Pit mine pictured was primarily a copper mine. Further reading: “Gold Panning is Easy” guidebook: https://www.betterworldbooks.com/search/results?q=gold%20panning%20is%20easy Article on the cosmic origin of gold: https://www.quantamagazine.org/did-neutron-stars-or-supernovas-forge-the-universes-supply-of-gold-20170323/ Study on gold-rich asteroid bombardment: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature10399 Gold Council statistics on gold supply: https://www.gold.org/about-gold/gold-supply/gold-mining/how-much-gold Earthworks “No Dirty Gold” campaign: https://www.earthworks.org/campaigns/no-dirty-gold/retailers/golden_rules/#.Uk3qySR57bo International mining standards guidance: https://www.oecd.org/daf/inv/mne/OECD-Due-Diligence-Guidance-Minerals-Edition3.pdf Subscribe: http://bit.ly/2FqJZMl Like Verge Science on Facebook: http://bit.ly/2hoSukO Follow on Twitter: http://bit.ly/2Kr29B9 Follow on Instagram: https://goo.gl/7ZeLvX Read More: http://www.theverge.com/ Community guidelines: http://bit.ly/2D0hlAv Subscribe to Verge on YouTube for explainers, product reviews, technology news, and more: http://goo.gl/G5RXGs