From the article you will learn about where you can find gold, what is its value, what are the types of mining and where is this metal used.
Ancient times
With such a noble metal as gold, mankind has been familiar for many millennia. As a working material, it was never used because of its large specific gravity and relative softness, but it was quickly used as a material for jewelry and a universal exchange equivalent - money. This is due to the fact that gold is one of the rarest substances. In addition, it does not oxidize in air and in water. But it is worth noting that there were times when ordinary iron was valued higher than noble metal. However, this did not last long: until the time when iron learned to mine and melt on a large scale. So where can I find gold?
Spread
This metal is found on almost all continents in varying amounts, but not in all deposits it is mined for economic reasons. If we take 2014 for the billing period, the largest producing countries are China, Australia and Russia. Then come the USA, Canada and South Africa. But where can I find gold in our country?
Mining of rare metal until the middle of the XVII century was not carried out in the Russian Empire, and all existing reserves were the result of trade with Western countries. But in 1745, everything changed. Ural peasant Erofei Markov discovered a gold nugget near the river, which he reported to authorities in Yekaterinburg.
Now the city of Berezovsky has grown on that spot, where to this day there is one of the oldest deposits.
Also, his veins can be found in Siberia, Yakutia, and the Far East. Ingots of this metal are of great value as the country's gold and foreign exchange reserves, jewelry, commemorative banknotes are made from it and used in complex electronics, chemistry and the space industry. But where can I find gold yet?
Water
One of the most common children's questions is why are the seas salty and there are no rivers? The thing is that the very rivers that flow into the oceans, with their own stream, wash various salts and other chemical elements out of the soil. For example, the water of the Black Sea contains most of the periodic table, but in very small doses. There is also gold, about 5 kilograms per cubic kilometer of liquid.
Mines
Now all the mines use special equipment, which significantly increases the productivity of mining. But the classical method with which it all began was the manual washing of the soil, as a result of which the miners received golden sand. The fact is that large deposits with large nuggets are very rare, and most often natural gold looks like small grains that need to be carefully and painstakingly separated from useless rocks.
By the way, an interesting fact: classic jeans with rivets on pockets were invented in America during the Gold Rush. Prospectors complained to the tailor that due to the heavy weight of wallets containing golden sand, pockets often tear.
Production
The main methods of gold mining are washing, amalgamation and a chemical process. But first things first
From ancient times, the first was used as the simplest and not requiring complex equipment. Most often, mines were organized by rivers or other bodies of water. The meaning of the method is to collect the rocks, and then rinse and sift. Dirt, rubbish and useless rock were washed away with liquid, and gold, due to its large specific gravity, remained in trays. The method is used now, but on an industrial scale.
The second - amalgamation - is also familiar to people since ancient times. A similar method of gold mining was first used in South America. The fact is that this noble metal easily dissolves in mercury, and if the latter is evaporated, pure gold will remain in the distillation cube, and the cooled and collected mercury can be reused.
Well, the third method, cyanidation, is somewhat similar to the above. Only here the metal is not dissolved in mercury, but in a mixture of cyanide acids.
Can gold be washed?
Can. Nothing prevents a person from heading deep into the taiga, away from human eyes, and finding an abandoned mine or new vein. But it should be remembered that, according to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, a penalty is imposed for this, as well as for illegal trade or an attempt to sell this metal. So it’s not worth the risk.