Abc’C Of Gold Mining
The methods and techniques of gold mining have been improving ever since Roman times, when people where already searching for this precious metal. From the simplest methods to complex mechanisms that involve special machinery and chemicals, the ways in which gold can be found can be adjusted to almost any type of budget.
In the quest for the yellow metal people have been using a simple pan, which can be considered a world-renowned symbol of their efforts. This technique is possible due to the fact that gold is heavier than sand or gravel. Even in the days of the nineteenth century California Gold Rush people were swirling sediment from rivers in a pan of water. Sometimes all they found were fool’s gold, thrown in the water to scam people.
The next step in gold mining was an artificial channel built to conduct water. This sluice box is endowed with gates and valves that regulate the flow. Riffles set at the bottom of the channel create dead zones that allow gold to deposit. For large scale mining, people included excavators and bulldozers in their line of equipment. When generous investments are an option, dams can be built to redirect water so the river bottom can be mined.
When gold is not a loose particle in sediment but encased in rock, the techniques become even more complex. Today, underground hard rock mining produces most of the worlds gold. Extracting this type of gold requires building tunnels or shafts, which reach impressive depths. Miners can work at depths exceeding 3,900 m (12,800 ft), as in the case of the Savuka gold mines in South Africa.
People can extract gold even from low-grade ore, with the help of cyanide. This chemical processes 99.9% pure metals through a straightforward technique that turns gold into a water soluble metallic complex.
The journey from Earth’s crust to the jeweler or trader requires a phase of casting or minting. After being separated from other sediments, gold is refined into standard gold bars. Labeled and recorded, gold is ready for the market in the shape of ingots or small chip-sized plates.
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