How Gold Is Mined

No one really knows how much gold still remains undiscovered, it may well be a hundred times or even a thousand times the amount that has already been found. Gold has long been the foundation of global wealth, and throughout the ages, numerous mining methods have been used, which we outline below.

Hard Rock Mining

Huge open pit mines produce more gold than any other type of mining, where the gold is actually exracted from the solid rock using heavy-duty machinery. Aside from open pit mining, the engineers figure out where gold veins are located and tunnel in to extract the precious metal, with some mines having kilometers of underground tunnels at varying depths.

Dredging

While this method is rarely used today, it was once the main way to extract gold and primarily uses suction and water to separate the gold from other materials. Some units are placed on a floating platform, and the underwater miner would operate a suction hose to send up material to the sluice, which is on the dredging platform. If you are in Australia and are looking for established dealers who sell gold Adelaide investors go for, or if you are located elsewhere, you can rely on Google to point you to the nearest reputable gold dealer who has an office in your city.

Panning

While still used recreationally, panning used to be a very common way to search for gold. America, Canada, and Australia have all been hosts to gold rushes back in the 19th century and right up to 1950. This manual gold separating method involves putting ore, rock and sand into a sieve and using water. The heavier gold obviously falls to the bottom; a small circular ‘gold pan’ is usually the best way to pan for gold. Ideal locations are rivers and streams and when gold is found this way, word soon gets around and the area is thoroughly panned by small-time prospectors.

Sluicing

A sluice box was used to remove gold from placer deposits (areas where gold collects naturally) and the box has riffles on the bottom, which create dead zones, where gold can fall through. The box is typically located in a stream, where constant water flows into the device and less dense materials flow right through the box and back into the river bed.

By-Product Gold Mining

As you would expect, gold is found while mining for other materials; large copper mines frequently come across veins of gold deposits. In fact, the largest gold mine in the world is mainly a copper mine. It has been known for an ore mine to change strategy after finding gold, which obviously makes perfect sense.

Gold As A Form Of Investment

While it might not be possible to go gold mining, if you are looking to acquire gold bullion for an investment, there are established gold bullion dealers where you can make your purchase. Start with a Google search to locate a nearby gold bullion dealer, then you can make an appointment to purchase.

Gold mining is big business, with several large mining corporations having mining rights in many prime gold deposit locations. The gold mining industry employs many experts who are always looking for new sources of these most valuable precious metals.