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TIPS ON GOLD CARE
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Keep gold jewellery in a clean dry place.
Keep various items of gold jewellery separate, as this will prevent scratching.
Remove your gold jewellery before washing with soap as soap forms a film on gold
making it dull and lifeless.
Remove your jewellery before applying perfume and make-up. |
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 What
is Gold and why is its chemical symbol Au?
Why
is gold measured in carats?
What
is a Carat?
How
much new gold is produced per year?
How
much does it cost to run a gold mine?
How
much gold is there in the world?
How
does a gold mine work?
Alchemy:
Can base metals be turned into gold?
How
big is a tonne of gold?
Where
does the word Gold come from?
Who
owns most gold?
How
much does a gold bar weigh?
If
all the gold was laid around the world, how far would it stretch?
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What is Gold and why is its chemical symbol Au?
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Gold is a rare metallic element with a melting point of 1064 degrees centigrade
and a boiling point of 2808 degrees centigrade. Its chemical symbol, Au, is short
for the Latin word for gold, 'Aurum', which literally means 'Glowing Dawn'. It has
several properties that have made it very useful to mankind over the years, notably
its excellent conductive properties and its inability to react with water or oxygen.
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Why is gold measured in carats?
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This stems back to ancient times in the Mediterranean /Middle East, when a carat
became used as a measure of the purity of gold alloys (see next Question 5). The
purity of gold is now measured also in terms if fineness, i.e parts per thousand.
Thus 18 carats is 18/24th of 1000 parts = 750 fineness.
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What is a Carat?
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A Carat (Karat in USA & Germany) was originally a unit of mass (weight) based
on the Carob seed or bean used by ancient merchants in the Middle East. The Carob
seed is from the Carob or locust bean tree. The carat is still used as such for
the weight of gem stones (1 carat is about 200 mg). For gold, it has come to be
used for measuring the purity of gold where pure gold is defined as 24 carats.
How and when this change occurred is not clear. It does involve the Romans who also
used the name Siliqua Graeca (Keration in Greek, Qirat in Arabic, now Carat in modern
times) for the bean of the Carob tree. The Romans also used the name Siliqua for
a small silver coin which was one-twentyfourth of the golden solidus of Constantine.
This latter had a mass of about 4.54 grams, so the Siliqua was approximately equivalent
in value to the mass of 1 Keration or Siliqua Graeca of gold, i.e the value of 1/24th
of a Solidus is about 1 Keration of gold, i.e 1 carat.
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How much new gold is produced per year?
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In 2001, mine production amounted to 2,604 tonnes, or 67% of total gold demand in
that year. Gold production has been growing for years, but the real acceleration
took place after the late 1970s, when output was in the region of 1,500tpa. This
year's output will fall short of production levels in 2001. This is partly for specific
operational reasons at some of the larger mines (Grasberg and Porgera), along with
lower grades at some of the operations in Nevada. The reduction in exploration and
development expenditure over the past five years is leading a number of analysts
to suggest that, with other operations nearing the end of their lives, global production
is likely to drop slightly over the next two to three years – subject always of
course to price.
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How much does it cost to run a gold mine?
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Gold mining is very capital intensive, particularly in the deep mines of South Africa
where mining is carried out at depths of 3000 meters and proposals to mine even
deeper at 4,500 meters are being pursued. Typical mining costs are US $238/troy
ounce gold average but these can vary widely depending on mining type and ore quality.
Richer ores mined at the surface (open cast mining) is considerably cheaper to mine
than underground mining at depth. Such mining requires expensive sinking of shafts
deep into the ground.
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How much gold is there in the world?
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At the end of 2001, it is estimated that all the gold ever mined amounts to about
145,000 tonnes.
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How does a gold mine work?
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The gold-containing ore has to be dug from the surface or blasted from the rock
face underground. This is then hauled to the surface and milled to release the gold.
The gold is then separated from the rock (gangue) by techniques such as flotation,
smelted to a gold-rich doré and cast into bars. These are then refined to gold bars
by the Miller chlorination process to a purity of 99.5%. If higher purity is needed
or platinum group metal contaminants are present, this gold is further refined by
the Wohlwill electrlytic process to 99.9% purity. Mine tailings containing low amounts
of gold may be treated with cyanide to dissolve the gold and this is then extracted
by the carbon in pulp technique before smelting and refining.
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Alchemy: Can base metals be turned into gold?
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All metal atoms are made of the same building blocks of protons, neutrons and electrons,
but in different quantities, so in theory it could be possible to change base metals
into gold or any other metal of value to mankind. In practice, it is achieved only
in nuclear reactions, where heavy radioactive metals decay into other lighter elements,
including some isotopes of gold. However, man's ancient dream of turning base metals
into gold is not a practical proposition. So it remains a dream!
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How big is a tonne of gold?
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Gold is traditionally weighed in Troy Ounces (31.1035 grams). With the density of
gold at 19.32 g/cm3, a troy ounce of gold would have a volume of 1.64 cm3. A tonne
of gold would therefore have a volume of 51, 760 cm3, which would be equivalent
to a cube of side 37.27cm (Approx. 1' 3'').
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Where does the word Gold come from?
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The word gold appears to be derived from the Indo-European root 'yellow', reflecting
one of the most obvious properties of gold. This is reflected in the similarities
of the word gold in various languages: Gold (English), Gold(German), Guld (Danish),
Gulden (Dutch), Goud (Afrikaans), Gull (Norwegian) and Kulta (Finnish).
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Who owns most gold?
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If we take national gold reserves, then most gold is owned by the USA followed by
Germany and the IMF. If we include jewellery ownership, then India is the largest
repository of gold in terms of total gold within the national boundaries. In terms
of personal ownership, it is not known who owns the most, but is possibly a member
of a ruling royal family in the East.
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How much does a gold bar weigh?
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Gold is made into a large number of different bars of different weights. The most
well known are the large 'London Good Delivery Bars' which are traded internationally.
These weigh about 400 Troy Ounces, i.e. 12.5 kg/ 27 lbs. Each. Others are denominated
in kilogram's, grams, troy ounces, etc. In grams, bars range from 1 g up to 10 kg.
In troy oz, from 1/10 tr.oz. up to 400 tr.oz.. Other bars include tola bars and
Tael bars.
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If all the gold was laid around the world, how far would it stretch?
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If we make all the gold ever produced into a thin wire of 5 microns (millionths
of a metre) diameter - the finest one can draw a gold wire, then all the gold would
stretch around the circumference of the world an astounding 72 million times approximately!
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