. THE STORY OF GOLD.

Opotiki News, Volume II, Issue 266, 1 December 1939, Page 6 (Supplement)

. THE STORY OF GOLD.

Gold is probably the first metal known to man. Attracted by its brilliant colour, and aided by its frequent occurrence in a pure state, i.e., nuggets, it was sought as an ornament. As far back as 3000 B.C. • there are records of gold mining and sluicing. Gold is one of the heaviest metals, is an excellent conductor of electricity, and is generally impervious to corrosion. Gold occurs in many forms, such as nuggets, or in combinations with iron pyrites and 50 or 60 different chemical combinations. Sometimes it is recognisable as gold; at other times it may appear black, brown, red, green or purple. Gold is present in the sea water in varying degrees from 5 to 267 parts of gold to 100 million parts of water. It is estimated that there are at least 10 million tons of gold in the sea. It is also present in the air, in vegetables, and probably in you (in other forms than false teeth). The story of the Golden Fleece stripped of its poetry is the Record of a robbery of an Armenian prospector who was collecting alluvial gold in a fleece, just as is done to-day. Gold is frequently used as an alloy with such metals as silver, copper, etc. By means of these alloys almost any colour of gold can be obtained. 25 per cent, of platinum makes white gold. Palladium in smaller quantities still (12 per cent.) will make gold white. Twenty per cent, aluminium will make gold purple. Copper will make it red. Green, black, pink, blue, brown and grey gold can also be made. Gold is one of the softest and most easily worked metals. Beaten by hand into gold leaf in London, craftsmen can spread it to 1-10,000 inch in thickness. Gold melts at 1.063 degrees C. and boils at 2,500 degrees C. Gold can be dissolved in a number of compounds, such as hot selinic acid, hot telluric acid, prussic acid, fluorine, bromine and iodine. Gold treated with strong ammonia forms a black powder called fulminating gold, which is a very powerful explosive which explodes by friction or by being heated to 140 degrees. Ruby glass is made by adding a solution of gold and stannous chloride. Gold has been used as currency from time immemorial. Sometimes it was minted as coins, but most it was measured by weight. In the days of Solomon (1060 8.C.) gold was mined extensively in England, which was then one of the chief gold producing countries of the world. Most of the gold for ,| Solomon’s . Temple came from Britain, a*nd 80 of the gold mines then in operation are being worked to-day. South Africa leads the world in gold production to-day, with Soviet Russia second. America, Australia, Manchuria and Japan all have large gold industries, and in New Zealand the mines at Waihi. alone have produced more than of gold.

The gold standard is an old idea on which the issue of currency was related to the holdings of gold. It caused most of the slumps in history. Although the words “gold standard” are used to-day, gold has no relation to money as we know it. Still it’s worth nearly £8 an ounce, so we don’t throw it away.