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| 1.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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| 2.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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| 3.
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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| 4.
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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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 grammes, 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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| 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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| 7.
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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| 8.
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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| 9.
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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| 10.
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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| 11.
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 kilogrammes, grammes, troy
ounces, etc. In grammes, 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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| 12.
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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| 13.
How big is a tonne of gold? |
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| Gold
is traditionally weighed in Troy Ounces (31.1035 grammes). 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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Disclaimer |
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| Australia's
geographical location is a natural place to maintain the continuity of
the spot gold market after New York traders go home and before the
Asian traders wake up. Sydney opens up shortly after the NY market
closes and overlaps the Hong Kong market. |
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| As
a free service to our comprehensive network of users, we provide the
latest and most accurate Gold Charts online. Our charts are available
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every minute. |
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