Where Gold is Found in the World

2008-07-11 16:52:56

( Financial )



What is Gold?

Gold is one of the most ductile and malleable metals. One gram of gold can be pounded into a one-meter square sheet. Pure gold is bright yellow and shiny, which gives it brilliance and beauty. While pure gold is quite soft and almost liquid, it can mix with different alloys to form into statues, coins, jewelry and many other things. It does not react with most chemicals except chlorine, fluorine and cyanide.

Gold is also a good conductor of electricity and can stand up to heat, oxygen and moisture which would normally corrode other metals. Thus, gold can be shaped and formed into different things.

What are the Uses of Gold?

Because of the high value of gold, its main use is as a medium of exchange in the form of nuggets, bars and coins. This was a tedious method of trading, so in later centuries, paper money and less precious metals like silver or copper were circulated as coins in place of gold.

Flaky or powdery forms of gold is found in some foodstuffs, such as gourmet chocolate and drinks. Some alternative medicine advocates also believe that gold has healing properties, and medicines with gold as ingredient have been developed for treating arthritis. Dentists occasionally use gold in teeth restorations like crowns and bridges.

Who Found Gold, and Where is it Found?

It is not certain as to who was the first person to discover gold. Its use since ancient times is evidenced by the fact that gold is found in many artifacts of Egyptian, Roman, Mayan and other ancient civilizations.

While gold is found in many parts of the world, there are specific areas where it is abundant, like Africa, Central and South America, Australia, Russia, China and the USA. About two-thirds of America's gold is found mainly in California, Nevada and South Dakota.

How is Gold Mined?

In most cases, gold is found in its natural state as a metal alloyed with silver. Ores also bear natural gold are embedded in rock. Sometimes, gold is found in flake, particle or nugget forms. Rocks with gold content may get eroded by water and flow freely in rivers and streams, as in the case of California.

There are several methods of mining gold. The simplest is gold panning, which involves filling shallow pans with gravel and sand that might contain gold. Gold which is heavier than the other components will stay on the bottom of the pan.

A more reliable technique is to use a sluice box which act like a filter to extract gold from deposits.

For gold that is embedded in rock, open pit mining or hard rock mining are used. Hard rock mining, which is the most widely used production technique, involves digging tunnels and shafts to gain access to the underground ore deposits.

Gold can also be obtained while mining other minerals such as silver or copper.


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