Absolutely pure gold is not found in the world. Even what exists in nature—native—is not such. In addition to gold, it also includes such impurities as silver - 2-50%, copper - up to 20%, bismuth, platinum, iron and others. The process of obtaining pure gold is called refining, it involves the most modern technologies but still does not completely eliminate impurities.
The only way to obtain a chemically pure metal that contains no impurities at all is purification using nuclear reactions. For example, you can get gold by bombarding mercury atoms with elementary particles, but the production technology is so expensive that its price will be thousands of times higher than the price of gold of the highest standard.
Gold nuggets
The purest alloy that can be found in products is 999.9 gold. This gold is used to make bank bullion. 999 purity is slightly less pure and is sometimes used in jewelry and coins. Technical gold today has a fineness of 998–999.
The bullion is a kind of currency in the bank. Manufactured by stamping, casting or sheet metal. There are two weights for bank gold - grams and ounces. Grams are most often used in the post-Soviet space. In a bank you can buy a bar from 1 gram, then there are 5, 10, 20 and so on. The most common and standard ingot weight is 1000 g.
The ounce is used as an international standard and is more popular in the West. Fine gold is bought and sold in dollars per ounce on the stock exchange. A troy ounce has a weight of 31.103478 grams and comes from the weight of coins in the Middle Ages, one coin weighed about 30 grams. In Israel there is another measure - the shekel. One shekel is equal to 11.4 grams of gold.
A little history
Because gold could be found almost anywhere in the world, it became an essential element in almost all human cultures.
Starting with Ancient Egypt, where decorative gold objects dating back over 5,000 years have been found. Advertising - Continued below
The beauty of gold was associated by ancient people with immortality and the wealth of the gods, so jewelry and decorative elements were made from it. Gold was also one of the first currencies to replace traditional barter exchange.
Children's gold bracelet. Egypt. Approximately 2650 BC Photo: www.metmuseum.org
The very first gold coins were minted in the kingdom of Lydia in 550 BC, and since then this metal has remained the main element of the monetary system. Even after modern paper money was adopted, currencies remained linked through the Gold Standard, a system introduced in the 1870s that fixed the value of these currencies in a certain amount of gold.
High purity gold coins
If you prefer high purity gold coins, look for coins with a stated fineness of 9999. Gold coins of this purity are produced in many countries around the world, including Australia, Austria, Canada, Israel, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Poland and the United States.
Typically, these countries mint certain gold coins at the highest purity available. In the United States, for example, the purest gold coin you can buy is the American Buffalo coin.
A complete guide to gold coins and instructions for purchasing them in 2021 can be found in a special article at the link.
Source: Jon Cavuoto, FirstNationalBullion, August 23, 2021 | Translation: Gold Reserve
Physical and chemical properties of metal
This is one of the few noble metals that can be found in nature in its pure form. Pure gold is very soft, only 2.5-3 on the Mohs hardness scale. This is a plus for easy metal processing: one gram of gold can be rolled into a thin sheet with a thickness of only 230 atoms and an area of one meter. But the softness of gold is a disadvantage for the strength of products made from it, so gold is most often alloyed with other metals.
Gold is a good conductor of heat and electricity and is resistant to oxidation and corrosion. The noble metal has a very high boiling and melting point.
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The temperature required to melt gold is 1065°C and the boiling point is 2856°C.
Jewelry gold 999
Among jewelers, pure gold is called pure gold when it has a purity of 999 or “three nines.” This standard corresponds to 24 carats in the carat system used in the West. But jewelry made from such metal can rarely be found in store windows in our country.
Although this pure gold looks great, it is very soft and easily deformed. It is also impractical due to abrasion, however, recently such jewelry has become popular in Asia.
Gold bars 1 kg
How gold is mined
North-Eastern Siberia, Kuranakh ore field.
Photo: PJSC Polyus Gold mining is carried out in the following countries: South Africa, Australia, USA, Canada, Russia, China and Pakistan. One of the largest gold mines is the Aurora mine, located in Guyana, Africa.
In ancient times, pieces of gold were simply found in a river or earth. During the Gold Rush, gold was mined by hand using a pick and shovel. By 1853, hydraulic mining had emerged and replaced independent gold miners. Today, gold is mined in large open-pit or underground mines.
The process begins with geologists taking samples of the ore to determine the best places to mine. Once mining engineers know where the gold is and what other materials surround it, the mining process can begin.
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If gold is located close to the surface, it is mined by open-pit mining. In fact, a huge hole is dug in the ground, along the inner perimeter of which a road goes down like a spiral. Equipment for mining and moving ore goes down and up along this road.
Other countries with high purity gold
The UAE is not the only country known for its abundance of high-purity gold. Some other well-known centers for purchasing large quantities of near-pure or exceptionally high-grade gold are in countries such as:
- India,
- Thailand,
- Switzerland.
India
India has a long history of paying close attention to the purity and quality of gold in almost all solid forms. Moreover, buying gold here is one of the most common practices in major port cities like Kochi.
Thailand
Thailand has high purity gold which is quite easily available. However, before making a purchase here, it is recommended to first ensure that the seller you choose is reliable.
Switzerland
Given the country's reputation for attention to detail in chocolate production, it's no surprise that the Swiss also value pure gold. Moreover, the high purity gold sold and processed here in solid form is known for its exquisite features and designs.
Modern uses of gold
Gold can be called the most popular precious metal of any era. Now it is used in various fields of human activity: from creating simple jewelry to complex medical devices.
Jewelry
Gold has been used to make jewelry for thousands of years. Today, up to 80% of mined or processed gold is used in jewelry. One of the reasons why this precious metal is so popular among jewelers is its malleability - gold can be used to create the most delicate works.
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Of course, jewelers do not use gold in its pure form; jewelry is usually made from gold alloys. To classify the gold content in an alloy, samples are used. Each sample of gold has its own color, because its shade is influenced by the composition of the alloy.
Electronics
Gold plated connectors.
Photo: Amazon Since gold is a good conductor, it is used in spare parts for electronic devices. For example, there is about 0.034 g of gold inside a mobile phone. In addition, gold is found in many connectors, cables and circuit boards, including computers, televisions and GPS devices.
Medicine
The first thing worth mentioning is dentistry. Gold is considered the best filler for cavities and crowns, bridges and other orthodontic appliances because the metal is malleable and easily molds to the desired shape. Also, gold does not react when mixed with other metals.
Small amounts of gold isotopes are used in some types of radiation therapy, which is often used for cancer.
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beauty
Mask made of the thinnest gold foil.
Photo: Getty Images Gold also has a place in the beauty industry, because... It is a good antioxidant, and gold has also been proven to fight signs of aging. Gold can work on the skin at the cellular level, activating collagen production and plumping the skin.
Everyone has heard about Cleopatra's milk baths, but there is another story - they say that the queen constantly made face masks from pure gold. Today, gold can be found in the composition of many cosmetic products: the same masks, creams, scrubs, peelings, etc. Of course, the content of the noble metal in them is low, and such products are expensive.
Sun protection
Chandrayaan-2 is an interplanetary station for lunar exploration.
Photo: ISRO Another amazing property of this noble metal is protection from ultraviolet rays. The largest area of application of gold for such purposes is astronautics. There is a special “gold foil” that is used to cover parts of spacecraft to protect them from solar radiation. Astronauts' spacesuits are also covered with gold, which allows a person to see, but does not allow harmful rays to pass through.
Cooking
Golden Opulence Ice Cream Garnished with Edible Gold Gold
is truly edible, and some chefs garnish their gourmet dishes with liquid gold. In one of the establishments in New York you can try pizza with pieces of gold, it will cost $2000, and in Abu Dhabi you can drink a golden cappuccino for $20.
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In fact, people have been eating gold since ancient Egypt, believing that the metal was sacred and would give them strength. The harm or benefit of eating gold has not been proven.
Awards
Gold has become a symbol of the award for first place in competitions, championships and other competitions. It is used to make medals for the Olympics, awards for film festivals and music awards, and even at smaller events, winners are often given gold jewelry.
Myth No. 2. Real gold is yellow gold.
The myths about the Golden Fleece and the legend about Tutankhamun’s treasury have forever attached to gold the image of a precious metal the color of the sun. Indeed, the color of pure gold is bright yellow. Only in the 20th century did scientists begin to use ligatures that could change the shade of the precious metal. A ligature is a special alloy added to a piece of jewelry to improve its aesthetic and physical properties. Remember the Soviet times, when jewelry in warm colors was in great demand, and our mothers and grandmothers still wear red gold wedding rings.
Today, the experiences of jewelers are much more varied. We already know that platinum, palladium and nickel are responsible for the white shade of gold, cobalt is responsible for the red, and copper gives yellow and orange. Rose gold is made from a combination of gold, copper and silver, while black gold is made from a combination of gold, cobalt and chromium.
“It is possible to make gold of a non-standard color, but such products will be fragile and not so easy to wear. If you drop a purple or blue gold item on a hard surface, it will shatter. As an option, you can make a composite piece of jewelry, part of which will be made of colored gold, and the other from classic, white or yellow,” shares Tatyana Kyrbasova, executive director of the Yakutia Jewelers Guild.
“Copper and silver are almost always added to the alloy composition, because they are in the same chemical group with gold and improve the technological characteristics of the product, giving it excellent polishability, lasting shine and color,” explains Evgeny Ryazansky, chief technologist of jewelry production at EPL Jeweler "
Modern scientists continue to struggle to create an innovative ligature that would make it possible to make a durable product that at the same time has a luxurious design, original color and aristocratic shine. But since there are no established standards and norms for ligatures, each production has its own technological secrets.
“The choice of certain components of the additive for gold jewelry is often explained by the company’s objectives: some need to minimize production costs, others need the aesthetic aspect,” says Eduard Utkin, General Director of the Guild of Russian Jewelers. “For example, palladium used as an additive is easier to process; it is softer and more ductile, which means it is easier to produce, while nickel is a harder material, although it gives no less shine and whiteness to the product.”
What stones go best with gold in jewelry?
18K Gold Carved Ruby Ring by ARTISAN
Gold is so versatile that it goes well with all stones. An exception is aquamarine on white gold - on it it is almost invisible and is lost from attention, but some will like this option. Also, some consider it unacceptable to combine bright red stones (for example, garnet or ruby) with yellow gold. But, again, this is a matter of taste.
Magnet
To make jewelry in the cheapest possible way, scammers add various metals to the alloy. These components can change the color of the jewelry, but the shade is not always an indicator of authenticity.
A powerful magnet is often used to check the authenticity of gold. It is applied to the metal whose value they want to verify. If the magnet is attracted to the metal, then it is not gold or a low-grade alloy. Usually the result turns out to be just gilding.
Myth No. 3. White gold is more expensive than “regular” gold
This is not always the case.
White gold is not “nobler” than yellow gold, since the value of the metal is determined primarily by its fineness, and not by its hue. Thus, 585-carat white and yellow gold are absolutely equivalent. The white shade of gold is obtained by adding palladium or nickel to the chemical formula. The alloy of this gold has a barely noticeable yellowish tint, and to remove it, jewelry is coated with rhodium. If palladium is used as an alloy, such an alloy is indeed more expensive than an alloy with a nickel alloy, since platinum and palladium themselves are precious metals and cost much more than nickel.
Palladium gives the alloy additional strength and a noble pale shade. Such materials have significantly higher ductility, they do not lose color when heated and have a more intense shine after final processing. Each manufacturer sets its own volume of palladium component in gold jewelry. Sufficiently good mechanical characteristics, gloss and rigidity of the structure are ensured by a content of 10.5%. A more “budget” version of white gold includes nickel, copper and some zinc.
“Among the latest technologies for producing high-quality gold products, one can note the use of carbon matrices: when a metal alloy is driven onto a carbon lattice under high pressure. This is, by the way, how Swiss watches are made. Gold processed using carbon technology is absolutely not scratched and has a lasting shine,” adds leading technologist Dmitry Rylov.
