subject: How Is Gold Produced? [print this page] Throughout history, gold has always been considered one of the most important precious metals on Earth, being used for jewelry, industrial purposes and as a store of value against any economical crises. Its bright shine and rich color make it extremely appealing, which is why it has grown to symbolize wealth and prosperity. At the same time, it has a high electrical and magnetic conductivity and is extremely malleable.
In its native state, gold occurs as nuggets in veins and alluvial deposits. It can also be found as part of an alloy, together with mercury, silver and copper. Years ago, it was hard to find placer gold, as people had to use rudimentary techniques such as panning and digging. Nowadays, the situation is much easier to deal with, thanks to modern techniques like satellite tracking and heavy drilling.
In the old days, people used ways like digging and panning to extract gold. Nowadays, the situation has changed, as there are a lot more available methods. Probably the most well-known are open-pit and underground mining. Through these procedures, ore is extracted; then, samples are taken and analyzed, so that specialists can determine the best ways in which the metal can be refined. As a result, the ore is broken up into smaller pieces and it goes through a series of transformations, being turned into 90% purity gold bars. When this process has ended, the bars are sent to another refinery, where they become 99.9% purity gold ingots that can be used in whatever ways are necessary.
After all the gold has been taken out of a mine, the area is restored to a state as similar to the original one as possible. The land is leveled, trees are planted and the wildlife is restored, in order to diminish the long-term effects of mining on the environment.
You should also know that gold can be extracted from electronic or jewelry scraps, in order to return it to circulation. This way, by means of recycling and intelligent administration of our gold resources, we can preserve them and enjoy our gold-powered way of life for many years to come.
