Put simply, because its a rare mineral. Anything on this earth that is either in short supply or hard to extract from the ground is gonna cost you more than say a rock from your garden. Crude oil is a good example(or black gold). As the human race uses more and more of the little oil we have left, then the price of oil/gasoline will continue to rise.

Andygib's answer is close to being right, firstly gold is not a mineral it's a metal. Secondly an important detail was omitted....the fact that something is rare and difficult to extract from the ground are good points, but what he failed to mention is that there has to be something useful or desirable about it. Gold is desirable for it's amazing properties and beauty. Oil is useful in manufacturing gasoline. No disrespect to the answer, just adding another point of view.

Probably because it's rare, it's pretty to look at and above all else it stays pretty - it doesn't tarnish like other metals do. (which scientifically is because it doesn't react with oxygen like many other metals do - making it a Noble metal) Also consider that before people discovered how to smelt gold ore it would have been even more of a rarity existing only in the remains of meteorites which contained gold ore and smelted in the heat of impact.

Because it's a safe haven!

Research the word Anunnaki and you will find the Real reason Gold is so valuable.

Because it is rare,which makes it expensive as people want something rare so they can show off.

Because there is less of it than tin

Before we go any further, lemme clarify the question: Food is valuable because we eat it. Hell, I'd call steel 'valuable' because we make cars out of it. But what do we do with gold, other than either wear it (in tiny amounts 'cos it's expensive - not keeping us warm or anything) or chuck it in a vault and watch it do nothing? We can all survive quite happily without gold, so why do we want it enough to make it valuable?

1.it is a scarce resource 2.it is used in Foreign exchange reseve which is the base for currency 3.It is a metal which can be used in making jewellery and its colour doesnt fade.

its rare

It is not thavaluable anymore. Not as valuable as Platinum or Tanzanite

Gold is valuable because of its rarity. However another important reason why gold is so valuable is because GOLD IS MONEY. Other precious metals and minerals are valuable, but their is value is mainly related to their industrial uses. In a depression industrial activity falls reducing the demand for commodities and causing prices to fall. Gold is different. Even when the jewelry industry is doing terribly, gold tends to maintain it's value. People want to own gold just to possess it as a form of money. It protects against both inflation and deflation. For thousands of years gold has been the ultimate store of wealth.

ooo ooo ahh ahhh ahhh me likes shinny art

becuase we made it that way, you can put whatever price on whatever you want, as long as people are willing to buy it

Because its not often found and is one of the most nonreactive metals which means it will stay pure for a very long time

Because only so much of it is allowed onto the market at a particular time. This keeps the price high.

Many want it.

Yeah, kinda lame. People have sought this stuff for ages (and diamonds). It is rare, but so what?

These are all good answers. However, none of them really answer the question. Gold can not be eaten. Gold can not shelter you. Gold can not cure diseace. Gold can not do much of anything except be pretty. I need to know why humans are willing to kill and die for a piece of shiny metal that from my point of view has no real value in comparison to the importance that man has bestowed upon it.

Enough people invest in it and value it highly. It is a fairly stable commodity that people like to invest in when the market takes a dive.

basically, we don't have very much of it, but everyone wants some.

great question!!!!!!!!!! i have asked the same question for the last few years! exactly! you cannot eat it, it does not shelter you....etc. where does the value come from? is vanity it? surely not. i do not believe so. throughout history, cultures, indigenous [peoples, the environment have all been destroyed, raped, devastated just for gold. millions have died. what is the real value? i read somewhere that it has a property important to a particular people, or perhaps humans. immortality? since the beginning of man have we sort it, and destroyed everything and everyone to get it! since before the egyptians to today! one thing for sure is that we have been definitely kept in the cold about the true value of gold. :)

Because people think it is valuable........

It's not all that valuable - just expensive. I don't think many people have died from a lack of gold

Humans covet it.

Its a cool color :)

It's pretty, and relatively rare. It's soft and very easily worked into elaborate jewelry. It's highly conductive and good for electronics.

Scarcity Its attractive, made into jewelery (high demand)

Mostly in the mind. At one time our {other countries also} currency was based on it - no more. At one time a lot was used in electronics - not so much. Class rings are the number one use for gold today. A certian rommance attached to it because it is fairly rare and it's role in our history. New uses are being looked at including being used to help purifiy water - not there yet.

Because people revert back to their anamal nature when they see it, like other animals like shiny things. And because shiney things... usually require effort and work to make shiny. Most shiny things are, in the rough, not all that shiny. The efforts required to makes them shiny is what seperates us from the animals. Man has been assiging value to his environment forever. Just like in the movie Castaway... "I... have made fire!"

Mostly because of its rarity and beauty. In the entire history of humans, only enough gold to fill two olympic-sized swimming pools has been mined. Because it is rare, people use it as a currency and buy it speculatively, which tends to drive the price up. Gold also has some utility, but I think most of the price comes from the above.

No one understands what this question is REALLY asking. We all know that it has been equivalent of money for a long time, and the it's pretty, and hard to find, and mine. However, let's imagine we are on an island (the Earth is an island in the Milky Way, by the way). Why is gold valuable to the inhabitants of the island? It isn't. You know what's valuable? Like the guy on Answer #4 said, "FIRE". Fire makers would be given the biggest "most expensive" and tasties portion of the wild hog that was kileld, because only the fire maker can cook the meat. Same with the hunter of the wild hog (given that only one of say 20 could hunt down a wild hog). It's all about the barter. This is what everyone here is missing! Gold has NO TRUE BARTER value. It DID have value when people liked to wear it because it made them more important than other serfs and common men. However, that was long ago, and only the "idea" of gold's value has kept it in line. Now, I agree, you should pay alot for a rare metal that helps with electricity. That electrical component should be expensive. However, I'm not going to be able to take a piece of gold to some yahoo in the jungle in exchange for them sharing their food with me...you know? How is it valuable there? What IS TRULY VALUABLE is whatever all inhabitants of the place you are in AGREE to be valuable. Some communites value skills...which make the most sense. However, skills can not be traded, so money needs to be created in order to have a PROMISE TO DO SOMETHING OF VALUE IN EXCHANGE FOR THE VALUE OF THE MONEY. Money's defintion should be, "The exchange of value added activities that both parties agree is equal".

well its so valuable because it is so commonly known and has a nice gold colour for example vanadium is a very rare metal that not many people hear about. And while gold is commonly found in numerous places vanadium must be extracted from ores.