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Drkgodz Flash moderator
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Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 1:00 pm Post subject: How is gold formed? |
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I googled this and got that it is made in stars. How did it get to Earth?
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Icklorfin I post too much
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Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 1:09 pm Post subject: |
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I think a large part of the question though, has to do with how gold is concentrated in the Earth, rather than about its stellar origin.
Our entire planet is composed of materials that originated from stardust... however fascinating this fact may be, this does not help us much in understanding how gold occurs on Earth.
Here are a few useful pointers for you.
1) Gold is widely distributed in the Earth's crust with an average concentration of 0.005 parts per million.
2) Various geological processes serve to concentrate gold and other metals in certain places to produce matalliferous ore bodies that are economically viable to mine.
3) Gold must be concentrated to about 5ppm, or 1000 times the crustal average concentration, and in sufficient volume to be able to recover at least 200,000 ounces (6 metric tons) to make an ore body economically viable.
4) Gold is concentrated in the bedrock mainly by volcanic activity and hydrothermal activity associated with it. It occurs most typically in mineralised quartz veins around and above granite plutons, but some of the richest deposits are found associated with massive sulphide ore bodies in Precambrian (usually Archaean) mobile belts.
5) Gold usually occurs as a native metal, often alloyed with small amounts of Silver, Lead, Copper, iron, and tiny amounts of rare Platinum Group Minerals.
6) Gold is a relatively inert substance, and survives weathering and erosion very well. Many of the richest accumulations of gold are concentrated by alluvial action depositing gold from large catchment areas into river and stream channels.
7) Two of the largest and most famous gold ores found in Africa, the Witwatersrand formation (South Africa) and the Tarkwa formation (Ghana) are quartz pebble conglomerates that were formed by both processes of concentration (4 and 6). First it formed in quartz reefs through an externsive region, then it was eroded and concentrated more by alluvial action. The gold is found in veins within the quartz pebbles and as individual grains in the finer sedimentary matrix between them.
Gold is often found on or near the surface in alluvial deposits, where panning and dredging may be economically viable at concentrations as low as 1ppm.
In some of these areas where alluvial gold is found, there is no sign of the original ore bodies, because they have long since been eroded away, leaving only the concentration of gold surviving in stream sediments.
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Pron Grandmaster Cheater
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Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 1:24 pm Post subject: |
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Yes, I'm pretty sure most elements are made in stars through nuclear fusion or fission. As for how it got here a theory is through meteors, but as soon as one enters the Earth's atmosphere most of the materials in the comet heat + dissolve. Also if gold is scattered across the world it is very unlikely that there would be a constant shower of gold meteors. There is probably no way to tell how it got here yet. Maybe when the earth was being formed dust from the stars mixed with it which brought the elements. Nooo idea.
Last edited by Pron on Sun Feb 22, 2009 1:28 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Drkgodz Flash moderator
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Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 1:26 pm Post subject: |
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What type of gold is the best?
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Pron Grandmaster Cheater
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Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 1:33 pm Post subject: |
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| Drkgodz wrote: | | What type of gold is the best? |
What do you mean? Are you talking about price or looks? If you can manage to get completly pure gold in terms of value, also you could create your own alloy with whatever you wanted.
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Drkgodz Flash moderator
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Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 1:40 pm Post subject: |
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| Pron wrote: | | Drkgodz wrote: | | What type of gold is the best? |
What do you mean? Are you talking about price or looks? If you can manage to get completly pure gold in terms of value, also you could create your own alloy with whatever you wanted. |
I'm talking about how would you be able to tell quality simply by looking at it and feeling it.
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•Music• Master Cheater
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Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 1:41 pm Post subject: |
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| Despair wrote: | I think a large part of the question though, has to do with how gold is concentrated in the Earth, rather than about its stellar origin.
Our entire planet is composed of materials that originated from stardust... however fascinating this fact may be, this does not help us much in understanding how gold occurs on Earth.
Here are a few useful pointers for you.
1) Gold is widely distributed in the Earth's crust with an average concentration of 0.005 parts per million.
2) Various geological processes serve to concentrate gold and other metals in certain places to produce matalliferous ore bodies that are economically viable to mine.
3) Gold must be concentrated to about 5ppm, or 1000 times the crustal average concentration, and in sufficient volume to be able to recover at least 200,000 ounces (6 metric tons) to make an ore body economically viable.
4) Gold is concentrated in the bedrock mainly by volcanic activity and hydrothermal activity associated with it. It occurs most typically in mineralised quartz veins around and above granite plutons, but some of the richest deposits are found associated with massive sulphide ore bodies in Precambrian (usually Archaean) mobile belts.
5) Gold usually occurs as a native metal, often alloyed with small amounts of Silver, Lead, Copper, iron, and tiny amounts of rare Platinum Group Minerals.
6) Gold is a relatively inert substance, and survives weathering and erosion very well. Many of the richest accumulations of gold are concentrated by alluvial action depositing gold from large catchment areas into river and stream channels.
7) Two of the largest and most famous gold ores found in Africa, the Witwatersrand formation (South Africa) and the Tarkwa formation (Ghana) are quartz pebble conglomerates that were formed by both processes of concentration (4 and 6). First it formed in quartz reefs through an externsive region, then it was eroded and concentrated more by alluvial action. The gold is found in veins within the quartz pebbles and as individual grains in the finer sedimentary matrix between them.
Gold is often found on or near the surface in alluvial deposits, where panning and dredging may be economically viable at concentrations as low as 1ppm.
In some of these areas where alluvial gold is found, there is no sign of the original ore bodies, because they have long since been eroded away, leaving only the concentration of gold surviving in stream sediments. |
Copy and paste.
/spam
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Pron Grandmaster Cheater
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Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 1:49 pm Post subject: |
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| Drkgodz wrote: | | Pron wrote: | | Drkgodz wrote: | | What type of gold is the best? |
What do you mean? Are you talking about price or looks? If you can manage to get completly pure gold in terms of value, also you could create your own alloy with whatever you wanted. |
I'm talking about how would you be able to tell quality simply by looking at it and feeling it. |
I would suggest just taking it into a jeweller that checks this type of thing but you would have to pay. They do acid tests and things to tell you specifics. But some things you can do are:
Biting it like they do in movies. If it is soft it's real.
If you can scratch glass with it it is usually fake. (pyrite)
If it is hammered it will bend, but if it breaks it is fake.
But yes, if you don't want to harm it just take it into a shop. it's relatively inexpensive.
You can also put it in vinegar, if it changes it is fake.
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Drkgodz Flash moderator
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Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 2997 Location: Houston
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Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 2:02 pm Post subject: |
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| Pron wrote: | | Drkgodz wrote: | | Pron wrote: | | Drkgodz wrote: | | What type of gold is the best? |
What do you mean? Are you talking about price or looks? If you can manage to get completly pure gold in terms of value, also you could create your own alloy with whatever you wanted. |
I'm talking about how would you be able to tell quality simply by looking at it and feeling it. |
I would suggest just taking it into a jeweller that checks this type of thing but you would have to pay. They do acid tests and things to tell you specifics. But some things you can do are:
Biting it like they do in movies. If it is soft it's real.
If you can scratch glass with it it is usually fake. (pyrite)
If it is hammered it will bend, but if it breaks it is fake.
But yes, if you don't want to harm it just take it into a shop. it's relatively inexpensive.
You can also put it in vinegar, if it changes it is fake. |
Okay thank you, that's exactly what I needed.
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