Gold
There are two main kinds of gold deposits:
- Lode or vein deposits, where gold is found in cracks and veins in rocks.
- Placer deposits, which are formed by moving water that has eroded gold out of lode deposits. When the speed of the water in a river slows sufficiently, the heavy gold falls to the bottom and accumulates in the sand of the riverbed.
How it’s mined and produced
- Gold can be mined underground or in open pits. It can also be mined as a by-product of copper and silver mining.
- Gold is so valuable that it’s worth the effort to recover even minute amounts from copper ore.
How it’s used
- Gold's physical and chemical properties make it ideal for a number of applications. It's also very stable and doesn’t corrode or rust. Gold conducts electricity and heat very well — only silver is a better conductor of electricity.
- Gold is very malleable which means it can be hammered into shapes or even sheets so thin that light can pasthrough it. It’s also ductile, which means it can be drawn into long, thin wires.
It’s mainly used in:
- Jewelry and arts
- medallions and coins.
- dentistry and medicine
- Ingots as a store of value. It’s also used for scientific and electronic instruments and as an electrolyte in the electro-plating industry.
