At one Colorado gold mine:
Cash costs amounted to $482 per ounce in the first quarter, compared to a company-wide average of $619.
Not surprisingly, the number of humans required to dig out an ounce of gold is just a fraction of what it was in the good ‘ol days, and today’s average gold miner (in the industrialized world, at least) has a much safer and comfortable life than in the mines of yore. This article provides an interesting summary of how some gold is mined in the 21st century.
