North California Gold Map

Maps

NORTH CAROLINA Gold Map- 300 gold sites - A 17 pound gold nugget was found by a 12 year old boy, Conrad Reed, in 1799 in a creek. It was used as a doorstop for three years. You will enjoy visiting the Reed Gold Mine, the nation’s first, at Stanfield. It has gold displays, equipment, a film, gold panning and tours of the gold mine (704-786-8337). Also, see the NC Minerals Museum at Spruce Pine and the Colburn Gem and Mineral Museum at Asheville. National forests. Beautiful streams. Other North Carolina gold nuggets: 28 pounds, 25 pounds and 15 pounds.

ALABAMA Gold Map- 140 gold mines and prospects - Montgomery, Birmingham, Anniston, Auburn. A geological report states: “The Hilton Brothers reopened the pit. They succeeded in obtaining 65 ounces of gold from a hole 3 feet by 2 feet by 20 inches; the result of half a day’s work.”

SOUTH CAROLINA Gold Map- 130 gold sites - There are several operating gold mines in South Carolina. The Ridgeway Gold Mine has been predicted to become one of the largest primary gold mines in North America. Gold mines and prospects near Greenville, Spartanburg, Clemson, McCormick, Newberry, Greenwood, Camden, York, Rock Hill, Lancaster and Pageland.

GEORGIA Gold Map- 500 gold sites - 500 gold mines and prospects in 37 counties extend from south of Atlanta to Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina & Alabama. Georgia is a wonderful state for gold prospecting, gold panning, treasure hunting and rockhounding. There was a major gold rush in 1828 at Dahlonega. Vice President John C. Calhoun mined at Auraria. Villa Rica, west of Atlanta, is known as “The Golden City”. Visit Dahlonega’s gold museum with displays, film & lectures (706-864-2257). The Crisson Gold Mine and the Consolidated Gold Mine at Dahlonega are open to visitors and gold panning may be done at these mines.


VIRGINIA Gold Map - Virginia has a long history of placer gold and lode gold production. There are 200 gold mines and prospects in 15 counties shown on the Virginia Gold Map. Panners from other states go to the Virginia gold sites and pan for the yellow metal.

Gold in California

Gold in California became highly concentrated there as the result of global forces operating over hundreds of millions of years. Volcanoes, tectonic plates and erosion all combined to concentrate billions of dollars worth of gold in the mountains of California. During the California Gold Rush, gold-seekers known as "Forty-Niners" retrieved this gold, at first using simple techniques, and then developed more sophisticated techniques which spread around the world.

The California Gold Rush

The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill in Coloma. News of the discovery soon spread, resulting in some 300,000 people coming to California from the rest of the United States and abroad.

These early gold-seekers, called "forty-niners," traveled to California by sailing ship and in covered wagons across the continent, often facing substantial hardships on the trip. While most of the newly-arrived were Americans, the Gold Rush also attracted tens of thousands from Latin America, Europe, Australia and Asia. At first, the prospectors retrieved the gold from streams and riverbeds using simple techniques, such as panning, and later developed more sophisticated methods of gold recovery that were adopted around the world. Gold, worth billions of today's dollars, was recovered leading to great wealth for a few; many, however, returned home with little more than they started with.

The effects of the Gold Rush were substantial. San Francisco grew from a tiny hamlet of tents to a boomtown, and roads, churches, schools and other towns were built. A system of laws and a government were created, leading to the admission of California as a state in 1850. New methods of transportation developed as steamships came into regular service and railroads were built. The business of agriculture, California's next major growth field, was started on a wide scale throughout the state. However, the Gold Rush also had negative effects: Native Americans were attacked and pushed off traditional lands, and gold mining caused environmental harm.

The Ancient Rivers

ANCIENT MAGALIA CHANNEL

Magalia Channel is just north of Paradise, Butte County and gold sites are on both sides of the channel. A 54 pound nugget was found at Magalia. The West Branch of Feather River runs near and crosses this ancient channel south of Last Chance Creek.

ANCIENT JURA RIVER

The Ancient Jura River is from the Jurassic Period, which makes it much older than the ancient rivers of the Tertiary Period. The course of this ancient river traces from Sierra County past Blairsden and Cromberg in Plumas County and Mount Ingalls. There are very few gold sites along the Jura River.

MOKELUMNE ANCIENT RIVER OF GOLD

Tertiary Mokelumne River starts in Eldorado National Forest and runs westward. It terminates about 8 miles west of California State Highway 49 not far from the town of Plymouth in Amador County. Two branches of the river originate near the North Fork of the Cosumnes River. Quite a few gold sites occur along the westernmost branch and along the main course of the ancient river near the towns of Volcano and Plymouth.

CALAVERAS ANCIENT RIVER OF GOLD

A considerable number of gold sites parallel the Tertiary Calaveras River. Tertiary Calaveras itself parallels the South Fork of the Stanislaus River just north of Columbia Historical State Park. The ancient river continues westward to California State Highway 49 and parallels the gold camps north to San Andreas. It terminates near Valley Springs in Calaveras County.

Rich gold deposits occur near the branches of ancient Calaveras. Hundreds of gold sites appear on Gold Map 5 along and between the two northern branches that originate near the towns of Sutter Creek and West Point.

TUOLUMNE ANCIENT RIVER OF GOLD

Tertiary Tuolumne River parallels the present-day Tuolumne River from Oakland Recreation Camp in the Stanislaus National Forest to Chinese Camp by Highway 49. There are many gold sites both north and south of this ancient river and near the towns of Coulterville, Jacksonville, Jamestown and Tuolumne.

ANCIENT INTERVOLCANIC CATARACT CHANNEL

The ancient Intervolcanic Cataract Channel originates in Calaveras Big Trees National Forest in Tuolumne County. It crosses the North Fork of the Stanislaus River into Calaveras County. It then crosses the Stanislaus River near Carson Hill, Columbia State Park and Squabbletown. The channel continues in a southwesterly direction a few miles west of Sonora and Jamestown and terminates at the Tuolumne/Stanislaus County line. A considerable number of gold deposit sites exist at each of the aforementioned towns.

The Ancient Rivers

YUBA ANCIENT RIVER OF GOLD

This ancient river of gold is by far the largest of the Tertiary rivers of the Sierra Nevada of California. It will be seen on Big Ten’s California Gold Map 5 that the Tertiary Yubu runs through or into the counties of Plumas, Sierra, Yuba, Nevada, Placer and El Dorado.

Ancient Yuba has numerous branches wandering throughout the area between Marysville and Lake Tahoe. The general drainage is from east to west; but in some of the branches the flow was from south to north and in other branches it was from north to south.

The Ancient Yuba River has been a rich source of gold. The famous gold towns of Grass Valley and Nevada City are along the course of the Ancient Yuba, as are the numerous gold deposit sites south of Downieville in Tahoe National Forest.

The deepest trough-shaped depressions in the drainage basin of the Tertiary Yuba River are usually filled to a depth of 50 to 200 feet by coarse gravels which ordinarily have been cemented so that they cannot be washed without crushing. Bench gravels

cover the deep gravels and in some places the bench gravels spread out to a width of one to two miles. The bench gravels contain much quartz. The pebbles are smaller than the deep gravels and always, except close to the headwaters, well rounded and polished. Fossil leaves have been found in the bench gravels.

The courses of the present-day Yuba River, including it’s North Fork, Middle Fork, South Fork and the smaller tributaries that feed them are also shown on Gold Map 5.

AMERICAN ANCIENT RIVER OF GOLD

The Tertiary American River follows a more or less east to west course from south of Lake Tahoe to the town of Roseville northeast of Sacramento and Carmichael. It crosses California State Highway 49 a couple of miles south of gold-rich Placerville.

ANCIENT INTERVOLCANIC AMERICAN RIVER

The Ancient Intervolcanic American River has many gold deposit sites along it’s course. It starts in Tahoe National Forest near the North fork of the present-day American river, then winds it’s way southwesterly to Auburn, Placer County. Many gold sites are near Auburn. One branch of the Ancient Intervolcanic American River circles around Volcanoville, which is noted for it’s gold.

The Ancient Rivers of Gold

The Ancient American River, Ancient Yuba River, Ancient Calaveras River, Ancient Mokelumne River, Ancient Tuolumne River, Ancient Magalia Channel, Ancient Intervolcanic Cateract Channel, Ancient Intervolcanic American River and the Ancient Jura River (from the Jurassic Period), are plotted in detail on Big Ten’s California Gold Map 5. The present-day rivers bearing the same names as their ancient rivers are also shown.

The Ancient Rivers of Gold in northern California are from the Tertiary Period. The Tertiary rivers existed millions of years ago and many of them had large quantities of gold within their gravels. Because of that, they are known as the "Ancient Rivers of Gold." Each ancient river is discussed below.

Information on this page is based on the classic work of Waldemar Lindgren of the United States Geological Survey and by study of Big Ten’s California Gold Map 5, which shows the relationship of the ancient rivers to landmarks, such as roads, creeks and towns in the region.

These now-dry Tertiary rivers are thought to be a prime source of the gold found in many of the rivers and streams of the Mother Lode region of northern California. The ancient rivers are discontinuous and sometimes follow tortuous routes. They have been altered by volcanic activity, erosion, and in some instances portions of the rivers have been covered by lava. Much of the region underwent extreme volcanic eruptions. Volcanic flows have been found up to 4,000 feet deep. Volcanic flows were up to 60 miles in length. Portions of an ancient river may be found at ground level or near the top of a mountain, or on the side of a mountain, or buried.

Early prospectors found portions of the ancient rivers and worked them for their rich gold content. Later, mining companies used hydraulic mining or drift mining techniques to recover the gold. In hydraulic mining, water under pressure is directed to, for example, the side of a ravine to dislodge the gravels and send the material to the sluices where the gold is recovered. The equipment that was used (called a "monitor" or "giant") was similar to a very large hose nozzle.

Geologic reports speak of gravel deposits up to 250 feet deep with gold deposits interspersed at various levels within the gravels. Some of the gravels of the ancient rivers of gold have been cemented together over time. Smaller materials between

the larger gravels have bound the larger gravels together. Drift mining is used in those instances to follow the channel underneath the volcanic covering. In drift mining, tunnels are driven in bedrock underneath the channels and when the channels are reached, the richest stratum, resting immediately on the bedrock, is extracted by underground mining methods and then washed at the mouth of the tunnel.

Hunting for gold in virginia

Prospecting and panning for gold in Virginia is of increasing interest to people living in the eastern part of the United States. Panning is easy to do and there is a long streak of gold deposits in Virginia. Treasure hunting with a metal detector is also very popular. Revolutionary War and Civil War battles were fought here and many caches of valuables, including gold coins and jewelry, were hidden from opposing forces. Relics from Civil War battles are frequently found by treasure hunters using metal detectors.

Virginia gold nugget in the Smithsonian Institution

Excellent specimens of gold nuggets found in Virginia are in the U.S. Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian Institution). Should you find a nugget, keep in mind that even small gold nuggets are worth far more than their weight in gold. Gem and mineral collectors, rockhounds, mineral museums and geology departments of universities seek them. Jewelers use them in making jewelry, such as pendants. Small nuggets are used to make gold earrings. Big Ten’s Virginia Gold Map shows 200 gold mines and prospecting locations from official geological records of the State of Virginia and the federal government. Gold sites are shown in these 15 counties:
Buckingham
Culpepper
Cumberland
Fairfax
Fauquier
Floyd
Fluvanna
Goochland
Halifax
Louisa
Orange
Patrick
Prince William
Spotsylvania
Stafford.

Gold Mines in Virginia

The streak of gold mines and prospecting areas in Virginia starts in Fairfax County near Washington, D.C. and trends southwest for about 140 miles. The gold mines and prospects parallel Interstate 95 just west of Dumfries and Fredericksburg and continue southwest into Buckingham County, about 25 miles east of Lynchburg. Some other gold mines and prospecting areas are further south near South Boston and in Floyd and Patrick counties.

Heavy concentrations of gold mines and prospecting sites are seen near Fredericksburg and Wilderness along the Rappahannock and Rapidan rivers. Another large group of mines and prospects occurs along the Fluvanna / Goochland county line.

Virginia Gold Mining History

Historical information herein is from documents written by geologist Palmer C. Sweet of the Virginia Division of Mineral Resources.

Placer gold mining started in Virginia about 1804. Lode gold mining quickly followed. The only known reference to gold in the southern Appalachians published in the 18th century appears in Thomas Jefferson’s notes on Virginia wherein he described a piece of ore, found in 1782 on the bank of the Rappahannock River, that yielded 17 pennyweight of gold. Gold from Virginia and South Carolina was sent to the mint in 1829 and from Georgia in 1830.

A U.S. Geological Survey document, in referring to the southern Appalachian region, states that a real boom was under way and, press reports of the period contain such headlines as "Number of gold mines increasing daily," "Farmers find gold in every hill," "Moneyed men from every quarter of the Union purchasing land at extravagant prices," "Mills are building," "Mine produces 160 pounds of pure metal in one week," "Gold digging amounts to mania."

Gold mining

Gold mining consists of the processes and techniques employed in the removal of gold from the ground. There are several techniques by which gold may be extracted from earth and rock

Gold in goldpan, Alaska

Gold panning is the easiest technique for searching for gold, but is not commercially viable for extracting gold from large deposits, except where labor costs are very low and/or gold traces are very substantial. It is often marketed as a tourist attraction on former goldfields. Before production methods can be used, a new source must be identified and panning is a good way to identify placer gold deposits so that they may be evaluated for commercial viability.

Metal detecting

A new small scale technique using metal detectors for finding gold. Using a piece of electronic equipment, called a metal detector, a person may walk around area systematically scanning below the surface. If the meter gives a positive reading a quantity of gold may be present up to a meter below the surface being scanned at the time. This technique is very easy to operate, highly mobile, and very popular among gold diggers.

Sluicing

Using a sluice box to extract gold from placer deposits has been a common practice in prospecting and small-scale mining throughout history to the modern day. A sluice box is essentially a man-made channel with riffles set in the bottom. The riffles are designed to create dead zones in the current to allow gold to drop out of suspension. The box is placed in the stream to catch water-flow and gold bearing material is placed at the top of the box. The material is carried by water through the box where gold and other heavy material settles out behind the riffles. Lighter material flows out of the box as tailings.

Larger commercial placer mining operations employ screening plants or trommels to remove the larger alluvial materials such as boulders and gravel before concentrating in a sluice box or jig plant.

Panning

Gold panning is a mostly manual technique of sorting gold. Wide, shallow pans are filled with sand and gravel that may contain gold. Water is added and the pans are shaken, sorting the gold from the gravel and other material. Gold being much denser than rock, quickly settles to the bottom of the pan. The silt is usually removed from stream beds, often at a bend in the stream, or resting on the bedrock bed of the stream, where the weight of gold causes it to separate out of the water flow. This type of gold found in streams or dry streams are called placer deposits.

The simplest technique to extract gold from placer ore is panning. In panning, some mined ore is placed in a large metal or plastic pan, combined with a generous amount of water, and agitated so that the gold particles, being of higher density than the other material, settle to the bottom of the pan. The lighter ore material such as sand, mud and gravel are then washed over the side of the pan, leaving the gold behind. Once a placer deposit is located by gold panning, the miner usually shifts to equipment that can treat volumes of sand and gravel more quickly and efficiently.

Price

Like other precious metals, gold is measured by troy weight and by grams. When it is alloyed with other metals the term carat or karat is used to indicate the amount of gold present, with 24 karats being pure gold and lower ratings proportionally less. The purity of a gold bar can also be expressed as a decimal figure ranging from 0 to 1, known as the millesimal fineness, such as 0.995 being very pure.

The price of gold is determined on the open market, but a procedure known as the Gold Fixing in London, originating in September 1919, provides a daily benchmark figure to the industry. The afternoon fixing appeared in 1968 to fix a price when US markets are open.

The high price of gold is due to its rare amount. Only three parts out of every billion (0.000000003) in the Earth's crust is gold.

Historically gold was used to back currency; in an economic system known as the gold standard, a certain weight of gold was given the name of a unit of currency. For a long period, the United States government set the value of the US dollar so that one troy ounce was equal to $20.67 ($664.56/kg), but in 1934 the dollar was revalued to $35.00 per troy ounce ($1125.27/kg). By 1961 it was becoming hard to maintain this price, and a pool of US and European banks agreed to manipulate the market to prevent further currency devaluation against increased gold demand.

On 17 March 1968, economic circumstances caused the collapse of the gold pool, and a two-tiered pricing scheme was established whereby gold was still used to settle international accounts at the old $35.00 per troy ounce ($1.13/g) but the price of gold on the private market was allowed to fluctuate; this two-tiered pricing system was abandoned in 1975 when the price of gold was left to find its free-market level. Central banks still hold historical gold reserves as a store of value although the level has generally been declining. The largest gold depository in the world is that of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank in New York, which holds about 3% of the gold ever mined, as does the similarly-laden U.S. Bullion Depository at Fort Knox.

In 2005 the World Gold Council estimated total global gold supply to be 3,859 tonnes and demand to be 3,754 tonnes, giving a surplus of 105 tonnes.

Price records

Since 1968 the price of gold on the open market has ranged widely, from a high of $850/oz ($27,300/kg) on 21 January 1980, to a low of $252.90/oz ($8,131/kg) on 21 June 1999 (London Gold Fixing). The 1980 high was not overtaken until 3 January 2008 when a new record of $865.35 per troy ounce was set in the a.m. London Gold Fixing. On January 10, 2008, gold futures for February delivery was $884 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, erasing by $10 the previous record of $875 in 1980, and later it settled at $880.30. On January 25, 2008, Gold and platinum prices climed historic highs of 919.80 and 1,634.50 dollars per ounce, respectively (London Platinum and Palladium Market).

Gold Hunt

There are more ways than one of hunting gold. Last week the U. S. Government, already holding $4,300,000,000 worth of gold, was trying to get more by ferreting out private gold hoards.* So that private holders could not profitably dispose of their gold elsewhere the Government was still paying only 20.67 (now depreciated) dollars for an ounce of gold. Hence U. S. gold miners have ceased bringing their output to the mints, but the Government still has to release some gold for industrial use (gold teeth, gold leaf, etc.). Net result of the U. S. Government's gold hunt was therefore—as shown in last week's Federal Reserve report—a decrease of $1,000,000 in the U. S. stock of monetary gold.


Another kind of gold hunt goes on in Canada, where, since sterling went off gold, the Government has paid a premium for gold to make up for the depreciation of the Canadian dollar. Canadian producers getting 37.78% more than the pre-Depression price per ounce ir making exciting profits. Mines are stepping up production, prospectors scouring Northern Canada in hope of new discoveries. With the U. S. gold hunt so unprofitable, U. S. businessmen have been rushing to join the Canadian hunt. Last week two U. S. expeditions, each including a famed U. S. ex-athlete, were flying into Canada's gold country: Tunney.

Seven U. S. millionaires composed party number one, headed by Wall Street's bear speculator Bernard E. ("Ben") Smith. They included Bernard F. Gimbel, head of Manhattan's Gimbel's; Donald M. Smith, broker (no relation) ; F. S. Argnimbau; Edward J. Flynn, Democratic boss of The Bronx and backer of Franklin Roosevelt; Eddie Dowling, comedian; James Joseph Tunney, financier-sportsman.

After breakfasting sumptuously at the home (just outside Toronto) of John Paris Bickell, "richest bachelor in Canada," the party set out in two General Airways' planes flying due north over Ontario's lake country to Porcupine gold camp. Their first goal was famed Mclntyre-Porcupine mine, Mr. Bickell's prize performer (which produced $5,425,000 of gold last year). There they met Sandy Mclntyre, onetime glass-molder, later foreman of a railroad construction gang, who discovered the mine and now lives on a pension (doled out in small amounts so that he will not disappear for too long at a time). There they went down into the bowels (4,134 ft.) of the earth to see the quartz gold vein being hacked. From Porcupine they planned to go to Kirkland Lake and Noranda mines and fly back to Toronto and New York prepared to buy Canadian gold shares with new avidity.

Hubbard. While the New Yorkers were hopping to northern Ontario, another plane took off from Boston bound for Labrador bearing Charles J. Hubbard (Harvard football captain, 1923) and three companions. Already Hubbard has a gold claim staked in the interior of Labrador.


*What use more gold would be to the Government economists could not figure out. The Federal Reserve has already $1,565,000,000 more gold than is needed for the 40% reserve against its note issue.

History

Gold has been known and highly-valued since prehistoric times. It may have been the first metal used by humans and was valued for ornamentation and rituals. Egyptian hieroglyphs from as early as 2600 BC describe gold, which king Tushratta of the Mitanni claimed was "more plentiful than dirt" in Egypt. Egypt and Nubia had the resources to make them major gold-producing areas for much of history. Gold is also mentioned frequently in the Old Testament, starting with Genesis 2:11 (at Havilah) and is included with the gifts of the magi in the first chapters of Matthew New Testament. The Book of Revelation 21:21 describes the city of New Jerusalem as having streets "made of pure gold, clear as crystal". The south-east corner of the Black Sea was famed for its gold. Exploitation is said to date from the time of Midas, and this gold was important in the establishment of what is probably the world's earliest coinage in Lydia between 643 and 630 BC.

The Mali Empire in Africa was famed throughout the old world for its large amounts of gold. Mansa Musa, ruler of the empire (1312–1337) became famous throughout the old world for his great hajj to Mecca in 1324. When he passed through Cairo in July of 1324, he was reportedly accompanied by a camel train that included thousands of people and nearly a hundred camels. He gave away so much gold that it took over a decade for the economy across North Africa to recover, due to the rapid inflation that it initiated. A contemporary Arab historian remarked;“ Gold was at a high price in Egypt until they came in that year. The mithqal did not go below 25 dirhams and was generally above, but from that time its value fell and it cheapened in price and has remained cheap till now. The mithqal does not exceed 22 dirhams or less. This has been the state of affairs for about twelve years until this day by reason of the large amount of gold which they brought into Egypt and spent there [...] ”

Applications

As the metal

Medium of monetary exchange

In various countries, gold is used as a standard for monetary exchange, in coinage and in jewelry. Pure gold is too soft for ordinary use and is typically hardened by alloying with copper or other base metals. The gold content of gold alloys is measured in carats (k), pure gold being designated as 24k.

Gold coins intended for circulation from 1526 into the 1930s were typically a standard 22k alloy called crown gold, for hardness. Modern collector/investment bullion coins (which do not require good mechanical wear properties) are typically 24k, although the American Gold Eagle and British gold sovereign continue to be made at 22k, on historical tradition. The Canadian Gold Maple Leaf coin contains the highest purity gold of any popular bullion coin, at 99.999% (.99999 fine). Several other 99.99% pure gold coins are currently available, including Australia's Gold Kangaroos (first appearing in 1986 as the Australian Gold Nugget, with the kangaroo theme appearing in 1989), the several coins of the Australian Lunar Calendar series, and the Austrian Philharmonic. In 2006, the U.S. Mint began production of the American Buffalo gold bullion coin also at 99.99% purity.

Today, gold has fallen out of use in coins made for general circulation.

Jewelry

Because of the softness of pure (24k) gold, it is usually alloyed with base metals for use in jewelry, altering its hardness and ductility, melting point, color and other properties. Alloys with lower "k", typically 22k, 18k, 14k or 10k, contain higher percentages of copper, silver or other base metals in the alloy. Copper is the most commonly used base metal, yielding a redder metal. Eighteen carat gold containing 25% copper is found in antique and Russian jewelry and has a distinct, though not dominant, copper cast, creating rose gold. Fourteen carat gold-copper alloy is nearly identical in color to certain bronze alloys, and both may be used to produce police and other badges. Blue gold can be made by alloying with iron and purple gold can be made by alloying with aluminum, although rarely done except in specialized jewelry. Blue gold is more brittle and therefore more difficult to work with when making jewelry. Fourteen and eighteen carat gold alloys with silver alone appear greenish-yellow and are referred to as green gold. White gold alloys can be made with palladium or nickel. White 18 carat gold containing 17.3% nickel, 5.5% zinc and 2.2% copper is silver in appearance. Nickel is toxic, however, and its release from nickel white gold is controlled by legislation in Europe. Alternative white gold alloys are available based on palladium, silver and other white metals (World Gold Council), but the palladium alloys are more expensive than those using nickel. High-carat white gold alloys are far more resistant to corrosion than are either pure silver or sterling silver. The Japanese craft of Mokume-gane exploits the colour contrasts between laminated colored gold alloys to produce decorative wood-grain effects.

Characteristics

Gold is the most malleable and ductile metal; a single gram can be beaten into a sheet of one square meter, or an ounce into 300 square feet. Gold leaf can be beaten thin enough to become translucent. The transmitted light appears greenish blue, because gold strongly reflects yellow and red.

Gold readily forms alloys with many other metals. These alloys can be produced to increase the hardness or to create exotic colors . Native gold contains usually eight to ten percent silver, but often much more — alloys with a silver content over 20% are called electrum. As the amount of silver increases, the color becomes whiter and the specific gravity becomes lower.

Gold is a good conductor of heat and electricity, and is not affected by air and most reagents. Heat, moisture, oxygen, and most corrosive agents have very little chemical effect on gold, making it well-suited for use in coins and jewelry; conversely, halogens will chemically alter gold, and aqua regia dissolves it via formation of the chloraurate ion.

Common oxidation states of gold include +1 (gold(I) or aurous compounds) and +3 (gold(III) or auric compounds). Gold ions in solution are readily reduced and precipitated out as gold metal by adding any other metal as the reducing agent. The added metal is oxidized and dissolves allowing the gold to be displaced from solution and be recovered as a solid precipitate.

Recent research undertaken by Sir Frank Reith of the Australian National University shows that microbes play an important role in forming gold deposits, transporting and precipitating gold to form grains and nuggets that collect in alluvial deposits.

High quality pure metallic gold is tasteless, in keeping with its resistance to corrosion (it is metal ions which confer taste to metals).

In addition, gold is very dense, a cubic meter weighing 19300 kg. By comparison, the density of lead is 11340 kg/m³, and the densest element, Iridium, is 22650 kg/m³.

Colour of gold

The usual gray colour of metals depends on their "electron sea" that is capable to absorb and re-emit photons over a wide range of frequences. Gold behaves differently, depending on subtle relativistic effects that affect the orbitals around gold atoms.

Gold - General Info

Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from the Latin aurum, meaning shining dawn) and atomic number 79. It is a highly sought-after precious metal which, for many centuries, has been used as money, a store of value and in jewelry. The metal occurs as nuggets or grains in rocks, underground "veins" and in alluvial deposits. It is one of the coinage metals. Gold is dense, soft, shiny and the most malleable and ductile of the known metals. Pure gold has a bright yellow color traditionally considered attractive.

Gold formed the basis for the gold standard used before the fiat currency monetary system was employed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). It is specifically against IMF regulations to base any currency against gold for all IMF member states. The ISO currency code of gold bullion is XAU.

Modern industrial uses include dentistry and electronics, where gold has traditionally found use because of its good resistance to oxidative corrosion.

Chemically, gold is a trivalent and univalent transition metal. Gold does not react with most chemicals, but is attacked by chlorine, fluorine, aqua regia and cyanide. Gold dissolves in mercury, forming amalgam alloys, but does not react with it. Gold is insoluble in nitric acid, which will dissolve silver and base metals, and this is the basis of the gold refining technique known as "inquartation and parting". Nitric acid has long been used to confirm the presence of gold in items, and this is the origin of the colloquial term "acid test," referring to a gold standard test for genuine value.

A one ounce gold nugget will bring $2,000 to $4,000 on the collectors market. Per a letter from the Department of Agriculture, no permit is needed for recreational gold panning and gold prospecting in the general national forest areas, provided no machinery is used. Our gold panning and prospecting maps show many national forests with gold sites.

The gold maps tell you how to pan, where to look in a streambed and how to tell fool's gold from real gold. You can quickly learn to pan by following the instructions on your map. Some people like to pan for gold at public rights of way where bridges cross gold-bearing streams. Treasure hunters metal detect for coins at the rural schools and churches.A streak of gold mines and gold prospecting sites extends from near Montgomery, Alabama to Washington D.C. The gold was placed there when Africa overrode North America about 250 million years ago. North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia and Alabama have many gold mines and prospecting sites. These states were our main source of gold for 45 years before the California gold discovery. In 1837, the US Government established gold coin mints in Georgia and North Carolina, rather than transport the raw gold to the Philadelphia Mint.The largest true California gold nugget weighed 54 pounds. A 195 pound mass was also found.

The 6,600 gold deposit sites shown on our six California gold prospecting and panning maps are continuous from Mexico to Oregon and to the Arizona and Nevada state lines. All gold sites on the prospecting and panning maps are from official records.