Gold in Big Picture: Part 4

A Caterpillar Inc. mining truck moves along a road at the AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. Cripple Creek & Victor gold mine in Victor/Cripple Creek, Colorado, on Thursday, Nov. 5, 2009. AngloGold Ashanti Ltd., Africa's largest gold producer, purchased Golden Cycle Gold Corp. in January 2008 to gain full control of this mining site, its only active operation in the U.S. (Matthew Staver/Bloomberg)

A Christie's employee looks at a creation "Relief Eponge" by Yves Klein on display at the auction house in London, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2010. The gold sponge relief creation is to be auctioned at the "Post-war and Contemporary" sale on Feb. 11 with an estimated price of 5.7 to 8 million euros (US $8.2 to 11.4 million). (AP Photo/Sang Tan)

Gold in Big Picture: Part 3

A gold miner pushes a wheelbarrow to carry rocks which will be processed for gold in an artisanal mine in Abangares, north of San Jose, Costa Rica on December 9, 2009. Costa Rica is pushing to legalize a 600 informal miners of small-scale miners who scrape out tiny amounts of gold from abandoned mine shafts using dangerous and polluting techniques. (REUTERS/Juan Carlos Ulate)

Colombian gold prospectors mine for the precious metal on the river Dagau, Zaragoza province, Cauca, Colombia on November 17, 2009. About 8,000 gold prospectors work illegally on the Dagua river to support their families, local authorities said. (REUTERS/Jaime Saldarriaga)

Gold in Big Pictures: Part 2

Pedro Linares uses a calculator to determine how much the company he works for, Fast Cash Gold Parties, will pay for the gold jewelry that he is weighing on October 30, 2009 in Hialeah, Florida. As the price of gold remains high, the company is busy setting up these modern day Tupperware parties to buy people's unwanted gold in their homes. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Gold figurines on display in a shop window in Hong Kong on November 17, 2009. (MIKE CLARKE/AFP/Getty Images)

Gold in Big Pictures: Part 1

Hava Katz, the head of the national treasures of Israel's Antiquities Authority, holds up a 1,000-year-old gold coin minted in Egypt and dated 1,095 AD, supposedly brought to Jerusalem by Muslim pilgrims, during an exhibition at the Davidson Archeological center in Jerusalem's Old city on November 11, 2009. (GALI TIBBON/AFP/Getty Images)

A statue of a bird of prey made of gold is pictured at a gold and silver exhibition at the Ginza Tanaka store in Tokyo October 23, 2009. (REUTERS/Issei Kato)

Gold Price - Gold Value

Like other precious metals, gold is measured in troy weight and grams. When alloyed with other metals, the term carat or karat is used to show the purity of gold present, with 24 carat gold is pure and lower ratings proportionally less. Purity and gold bar or coin can also be expressed as a decimal number ranging from 0 to 1, is known as the clarity Milli, such as 0.995 are very clear.

The price of gold is determined by trading in gold and derivatives markets, but a procedure known as the setting of gold in London, originating in September 1919, offers day-to-day reference price in the industry. The afternoon fixing was introduced in 1968 at a price when U.S. markets are open.

A Swiss-cast 1 kg gold bar.

Historically, gold coins were widely used as currency, paper money was introduced, it typically was a receipt to exchange a gold coin or bullion. The monetary system known as the gold standard, a certain weight of gold was given the name of the unit of currency. For a long time, the United States government, the value of the U.S. dollar, so troy ounce is equal to $ 20.67 ($ 664.56/kg), but in 1934 the dollar was devalued to $ 35.00 per ounce ($ 1,125.27 / kg). In 1961, it will be difficult to maintain prices, and agreed to manipulate the market to prevent further currency devaluation against increased gold demand, which pool of U.S. and European banks.

On 17 March 1968, the economic situation has caused the collapse of the gold pool, and two price system was established, where gold is still used to settle international accounts at the old $ 35.00 per troy ounce ($ 1.13 / g) but the price of gold on the private market was allowed to move; This two-tier pricing system was abandoned in 1975 when the price of gold was left to find a market level. Central banks still hold historical gold reserves as a store of value, although the levels are generally declining. The largest gold deposits in the world, the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which is 3% of the gold ever mined, as both laden U.S. Bullion deposit Fort Knox. In 2005, the World Gold Council estimated total global gold supply 3859 tonnes and demand to be 3,754 tonnes, which is the excess of 105 tonnes.

How Gold Was Formed on Earth

Like all elements of atomic numbers larger than iron, gold is a supernova nucleosynthesis process is believed to occur by. The explosion of the space in which they later formed in our solar system and the Earth in the metal-containing dust (heavy elements like gold included) scattered. Because the Earth was molten when it was just, gold exists on Earth has been in almost all the major. Gold that currently most of the planet's crust mantle today and skirmishes during the late heavy bombardment was distributed on Earth.

On Earth, gold ore is found in Precambrian rock formation time. It often occurs as a native metal, usually silver solution (ie gold, silver alloy) Metal closely. Alloys are usually 8-10% of the silver content. Electrum elemental gold with more than 20% silver. Mother with electrum silver color runs from golden-silver, silver, depending on the content. More silver, low specific gravity.

Great Golden:

This 156-troy-ounce (4.9 kg) nugget, known as the Mojave Nugget
was found by an individual prospector in the Southern California Desert
using a metal detector.

Native gold occurs as very small microscopic particles embedded in rock are often called "Fool's Gold", which is pyrite, quartz or sulfide minerals such as with. These deposits, called plaque. Also free to ply their original state in the form of metals, grain or large tumor that has reduced the rocks and alluvial deposits PLACER is found in the form of deposits with the ending. Free gold is always richer at the surface as the gold-bearing veins [clarification needed] with weathering, and streams and rivers, where it collects and can be welding by water action to form a tumor, followed by washing minerals in the dust due to oxidation.

What Is Gold?

What is Gold? Gold is a metallic element with atomic number 79 and symbol Au. While gold's name comes from the Old English word meaning yellow, the symbol comes from the Latin aurum, meaning "dawn."

In the periodic table of elements, gold was found in Group 11, along with silver, copper, and roentgenium, and Period 6 between platinum and mercury. This is referred to as the "transition metals" and a metal, the soft resilient. Described as yellow, gold is one of the so-called precious metals, along with silver.

Stack of Gold

Known from ancient times - along with the mercury, sulfur, copper, silver, tin, and lead - gold was used as early 6000 BC Early uses including jewelry, including bracelets and rings, and ornaments. Flexibility means that the initial use of the individual items is practically impossible, so it is restricted to the decor. The civilization that used it, including Egypt, Greece, Mesopotamia and Rome.

Gold was discovered in the second layer of deposits and placer deposits, and naturally uncombined. While the biggest deposits found in South Africa, deposit notes also located in Australia, the Soviet Union, and a number of Western countries from the United States, including in Southwest Arizona, California, Montana, and Washington in the Pacific Northwest, and South Dakota in the Midwest.