Who discovered gold?

The human body is composed of many elements, including Gold in trace amounts. According the technical treatise, The Elements Third Edition, written by John While there is no clear cut answer to this question, gold has been in use by humans as far back as the Chalcolithic or Bronze Age. Early artisans of the time period used gold to fashion jewelry and other adornments. Golden artifacts have been found in the Balkans that predate the Christian Era by four millennia.

Throughout history, gold has had a rich history that has taken it through ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome and Africa. It has long been a part of the symbolism of these cultures and is used dominantly in their artifacts and adornments. In 2600 BC, the ancient king Tushratta of Mitanni claimed that gold in Egypt was more plentiful than dirt, perhaps the first reference to the modern phrase "streets paved with gold".

While we have no scientific proof of the claimed abundance of Egyptian gold during that time, there have been archaeological finds that seem to add some credibility to the claim, including the earliest known map, the Turin Papyrus Map. This map outlined the structure of an early gold mining facility and the local geography of a region in Nubia.

The Greek geographer, Strabo, shared the ancient methods of refining and extracting the gold from ore, including a smelting process called "Fire-Sitting". It is also believed that the Greek legend of the Golden Fleece that was pursued by Jason and the Argonauts may have referred to a practice of using fleece to trap gold dust in placer deposits, an early form of screening for gold.

The Romans were the first to develop wide spread gold mining methods, including hydraulic mining. Their quest for gold led the ancient Roman empire to expand throughout most of the known world.

source: gold-traders.co.uk

How much gold is found in the human body?

The human body is composed of many elements, including Gold in trace amounts. According the technical treatise, The Elements Third Edition, written by John Emsley and published by the Clarendon Press, Oxford in 1998, the average person's body weighing 70 kilograms would contain a total mass of 0.2 milligrams of gold. The volume of this gold in purified form would be 10 nanoliters. If this refined gold were formed into a solid cube of purified gold, the measurement of each side of the cube would be 0.22 millimeters.

By comparison, the human body contains 43 kilograms of oxygen, the most abundant element in the earth, as well as the human body. Other elements found in the human body include 16 kilograms of carbon and 7 kilograms of hydrogen.

While the role of gold in the physiological processes of the human body was unknown for many years, it has recently been determined that gold plays a role in both the health and maintenance of the joints, as well as being a key element in the transmittal of electrical signals throughout the body. Of interesting note, the human body contains 1.0 gram of Silicon. This element is commonly found in the presence of gold in nature and its metabolic function is currently unknown.

source: gold-traders.co.uk

How did gold get its name?

Actually, gold is not the true name of this rare yellow metal although it is the commonly accepted name in use today. Almost every culture has had some experience with gold and there have been many names for this precious metal. The term "Gold" as we know it today, actually derives from Old English and Germanic origins.

The German Gothic language expressed gold with the word gulþa which later evolved into geolu in the Old English language. Geolu is translated to mean "yellow", thus naming the metal for it's most dominant characteristic; its golden yellow colour. In the twelfth century, Middle English brought another evolution to the word and our modern word, gold, came into existence.

The chemical symbol for Gold on the periodic table of elements is AU. This symbol is a tribute to the Latin word, aurum, loosely translated "glowing dawn" which was used to describe gold in Ancient Rome. The Ancient Romans were not the first civilization to encounter gold but they did invent improvements on the way gold was mined and extracted, thus increasing the availability of gold throughout their empire. Many of these improved methods invented by the Ancient Romans have stood the test of time and are still in use by gold miners today.

source: gold-traders.co.uk

How is gold mined?

Gold mining methods are divided into four basic categories; placer mining, hard rock mining, byproduct mining and by processing Gold ore. Each of these categories has it's own unique methods of extracting the gold from the surrounding materials.

In placer mining, the gold is retrieved by metal detecting, panning, cradling, sluicing and dredging. Using gravity and water to separate the dense gold from the other materials that surround it, this is the most common gold mining category for amateur gold hunters.

Hard rock mining is the process of using open pit or underground mining tunnels to retrieve the gold from the rock . This method of gold mining is responsible for recovering most of the worlds gold supply.

Byproduct mining is related to hard rock mining in that open pit or underground mining tunnels are used. In byproduct mining, gold is a secondary find. The main purpose of the mining operation is the recovery of Copper, sand, gravel or other products but significant quantities of Gold exist to make byproduct mining a profitable venture. An example of this kind of mining would be the Grasberg mine is Papua, Indonesia, which was developed for extracting Copper from the earth. Though Gold is not the primary product, this mine produces more Gold than any other mine in the world.

The final category of gold mining is the processing of Gold ore. This method is largely becoming deprecated as the yield of Gold is often very low and the environmental impact and costs of the operation are substantial. The Gold ore is finely crushed rock or earth containing trace amounts of Gold which are extracted using a chemical process. The most commonly used chemical for this process is Cyanide.

source: gold-traders.co.uk

When did the gold standard end?

The end of the United States Gold Standard began in 1933 when President Franklin D.Roosevelt declared private ownership of gold to be illegal, except in the case of jewelry. The Bretton Woods System, however, allowed foreign governments to continue to sell their gold to the United States Treasury at a price of $35 per troy ounce from it's inception in 1946 until President Richard Nixon ended the program in 1971, thus enabling gold to be traded at fluctuating market prices rather than the fixed price of $35 per troy ounce. This marked the end of the Gold Standard on a global level as no major economic system has employed the Gold Standard since that time.

Since the end of the Gold Standard in 1971, the United States has operated on a fiat currency, which is not backed by any precious metal or other commodity. This form of commerce allows for fluctuations in the global currency market that were not possible under the Gold Standard. Since the Gold Standard established a set amount of gold that could be purchased with a country's currency, it also set the value of that currency. By ending the Gold Standard, it opened the way for free markets.

source: gold-traders.co.uk

Where is gold found on earth?

Gold can be found on nearly every continent of the earth. It also exists in trace amounts in sea water and in the human body. Despite the fact that gold can be found almost everywhere, there is very little gold in comparison to other elements on earth. In fact, if all the gold ever discovered were collected and melted down and formed into one cube, it would measure just 20 meters on each side.
The largest known deposits of gold appear on two continents, Africa and India. In these two regions, South Africa has the largest concentration of gold with the town of Johannesburg being built over the worlds largest gold deposit. India is home to the worlds second deepest underground gold mine, the Champion Reef Mine, which is located on the Kolar region of India. While the Kolar gold fields have been closed for several years due to diminishing returns on the investment, this area of India is still thought to contain very rich deposits of gold. The Indian nation also takes credit for being the world's largest consumer of gold and gold products.
As a producer of gold in the last two centuries, the North American continent has become a source that may rival these other continents. With deposits of gold being found in the United States, Canada and Mexico, the North American continent is developing as a gold producing continent.

source: gold-traders.co.uk

Does gold back the American dollar?

The American Dollar has a history that goes well back before the United States of America declared its independence from British rule. At the time of the American Dollar's inception and approval by the Congress in 1786, it was merely a symbolic act and no actual coins or bills were created until the signing of the Coinage Act of 1792, when the dollar was produced in coins rather than the paper money that we know today. At that time, the American Dollar coin represented 24.75 grains of gold and the dollar coins were composed of silver.

In 1900, the United States government moved their money to the Gold Standard, which meant that all money being used in the country was backed by a certain amount of gold that was held in the Federal Repository. At that time, the value of one dollar was set as equal and redeemable to the amount of 23.22 grains of gold.

In the years that followed, the Gold Standard was suspended and reinstated several times until 1963, when the United States followed the example of most other nations of the world in making their money a fiat currency, one that is not directly backed by any physical amount of gold or other precious metals.

source: gold-traders.co.uk