Is gold a rare element found on earth?

All elements heavier than nickel are only synthesized in supernova explosions, and are therefore relatively rare. Gold isn't that rare compared to many other elements, but it's regarded as intrinsically valuable, and so people tend to hoard it.

(Lead is even heavier than gold, so why isn't it expensive? Well, lead has a number of exceptionally stable isotopes you get to lead by a lot of decay chains from even heavier elements, so it's more common than its atomic weight might suggest.)