orecastWe asked our own database a simple question: how many gold occurrences do you actually know? The answer was bigger than expected. 84,011 documented gold occurrences sit inside orecast, making gold, right after everyday building stone, the second most common commodity in our data of all. For comparison: silver comes to around 52,000 entries, copper to a similar figure. Gold clearly beats them both.
At first glance that sounds like a sensation: tens of thousands of gold points, just a tap away. This is exactly where serious maps part ways with colourful treasure promises. Because the interesting question is not how many, but where, and the honest answer to that matters more to us than the big headline.
Where the 84,011 come from
By far the largest share of these points (83,497) comes from a single, openly available source: the Mineral Resources Data System of the United States Geological Survey (USGS MRDS). This dataset is global in scope, and its focus lies where mapping has been most thorough: in the United States. So the big number is real, but it is a global number, not a European gold rush. Showing it without that context creates exactly the false precision orecast was built to avoid.
And in Europe?
Restrict the map to Europe and the tens of thousands shrink to a far more modest, but honest figure: a good 600 documented gold occurrences. Most of them come not from the US dataset but from European geological surveys that have mapped their own countries more closely: for example around 290 points from Austria (GeoSphere Austria), a good 160 from France (BRGM), a few dozen from Italy (ISPRA), and individual ones from Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia. In Germany itself we currently count only a few dozen independently documented gold occurrences.
This does not contradict our gold video, in which tiny flakes glitter in Rhine gravel. On the contrary: river gold is a trace, not a deposit. It lies finely spread through the gravel of many rivers, but it rarely appears as a single, precisely documented find in a geological database. It is exactly this difference, between a plausible formation and a proven point, that orecast makes visible instead of blurring it.
Why we still show the big number
One might object: if 83,497 points lie in the USA, why does orecast show them at all? Because deleting them would be the opposite of transparency. We show what is documented: completely, with its source, and with an honest note on what a source covers and what it does not. A US point is a real US point; it only becomes misleading if someone pretends it lies in Europe. Our job is not to make the world smaller, but to label it correctly.
That is why every occurrence in orecast states which source it comes from. That is why we distinguish between a dated, proven find and a geological area in which gold can occur. And that is why on our map you will see fewer points in some places than on sites that paint a gold cross everywhere. Fewer points, but real points. That is the whole difference.
What this means for your own gold hunt
In practice: the big number will not make you rich, but the right question will get you further. Instead of “Where is gold?” it is “Am I standing in a formation where gold is plausible, and is there a documented find nearby?” In the gold-bearing gravels of the Upper Rhine, for instance, panned gold has been recorded since Roman times; that is an honest basis. A metre-precise pin in the middle of a green meadow, with no source, is not.
84,011 points make a nice headline. But the real message lies in the context behind it, and that is the heart of orecast: real geological data, no false precision. How coarse geology becomes a reliable clue, and how to spot dubious treasure maps, we explain in detail in our video “Why no map can tell you where gold lies”. And the story of gold itself, from Rhine gravel through the mines of Rome to the hoards of the Celts, is in our gold episode:
Frequently asked questions
How many gold occurrences does the orecast database hold?
The count is 84,011 documented gold occurrences. That makes gold the second most common commodity in our data, behind everyday building stone. Silver reaches around 52,000 entries and copper a similar figure.
Why do so many of the map's gold points sit in the United States?
Of the 84,011 points, 83,497 come from a single openly available source: the Mineral Resources Data System run by the United States Geological Survey (USGS MRDS). It is global in scope, yet its density follows the places that have been mapped most thoroughly. The number is real, but it is a worldwide one rather than a sign of a European gold rush.
How many documented gold occurrences are there in Europe and in Germany?
Restrict the map to Europe and a good 600 documented occurrences remain. Most of them come from national geological surveys: around 290 points in Austria (GeoSphere Austria), a good 160 in France (BRGM), a few dozen in Italy (ISPRA), plus single entries from Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia. Germany itself currently holds only a few dozen independently documented occurrences.
Why does river gold barely show up as a point on the map?
River gold is a trace, not a deposit. Spread finely through the gravel of many rivers, it rarely turns up as one precisely recorded find in a geological database. The useful question is therefore not where gold is, but whether you are standing in a formation where gold is plausible and whether a proven find lies nearby. In the gold-bearing gravels of the Upper Rhine, for instance, panned gold has been recorded since Roman times.