Gold mining
From impervious rock to precious metal, how is gold extracted and processed?
Gold has been sought after worldwide for centuries due to its value to the economy, not to mention its intrinsic beauty. Its face-centred cubic crystal structure and soft and malleable nature mean that it is the foremost material used in the jewellery industry, being shaped into a wide variety of decorative items. Unfortunately, while handling gold is easy, acquiring it is not, with numerous highly scientific processes and technological machines needed to find, mine and process it.
Native gold - as found within gold ores - occurs both at Earth’s surface (exogenetic) and underground (endogenetic), with each iteration requiring differing techniques to acquire and process it. The majority of exogenetic gold exists as alluvial gold deposits. Alluvial gold is that found in riverbeds, streambeds and floodplains, where surrounding rock and metals from its ore have been washed away. This type of gold is processed by passing deposits over jigging conveyor belts, which free the denser gold from the less dense sand and gravel.