Division of Minerals and Geology Colorado Geological Survey

• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2003
• Subjects: Arctic
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.695.3368; http://coloradogeologicalsurvey.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/141.pdf

Just the mention of thatword whets the appetite forriches, adventure, and the excitement of discovery. Men have been giving up the com-forts of home to search for gold since before recorded history. They have climbed over vast and imposing mountain ranges, suffered the biting blasts of the arctic, fought through disease infested jungles, and wandered across parched and lonely deserts all for gold, the most beautiful and most desired of all metals. Gold has been treasured since prehistoric times. Gold artifacts are found in some of the earliest archeological sites. The earliest known geological map is Egyptian, and it dates from about 3,300 years ago. The map depicts “mountains of gold ” and shows areas where gold was recovered and where miners lived. No one is sure of the exact location of this ancient mine; however, it may be in the Red Sea Hills near the present day Suez Canal. What is it about gold that makes it so attractive and so useful? Gold is not very hard; a knife can easily scratch pure gold. Gold is very heavy or dense, having a specific gravity of 19.3+ (extremely heavy even for metallic minerals). Some of the other characteristics of gold are ductility, malleability and sectility, meaning it can be stretched into a wire, pounded into other shapes, and cut into slices. Gold is the most ductile and malleable element on our planet. A single ounce of gold can be drawn into a wire 35 miles long and it can be ham-mered into sheets less than five millionths of an inch thick. Gold is a great metal for jewelry, as it never tarnishes. The color and luster of gold are what make this metal so attractive. Gold is almost inde-structible and has been used and reused for centuries, to the extent that all of the gold that is currently being used by mankind is almost equal to all the gold that has ever been mined. When we think of gold our first thoughts go to jewelry and