How Gold is Formed

The ancient Aztecs believed gold to be ―the sweat of the sun‖. Though the mystery of how gold is formed still hasn't been fully unraveled yet, that seems to be a highly accurate metaphor. The most common theory being that gold, like heaviest metals, is forged inside stars through a process called nuclear fusion.

In the beginning, following the Big Bang, hydrogen and helium were formed. Through hundreds of millions of years of the stars using lighter elements such as carbon, nitrogen and oxygen as fuel to light nuclear fires, they were forced to evolve to heavier elements, working their way through the periodic table towards iron. Finally, as they burnt silicon to make iron, they exploded as a supernova, releasing as much energy in one moment as all the other stars in that galaxy put together. It was during that cataclysmic explosion that atoms of gold were manufactured for the first time, hurled into the Universe and later condensed into our solar system and the Earth.

As the earth was molten at the time of its formation, almost all of the gold present on Earth sank to the core. It is thought that most of the gold that is present today in the earth's crust and mantle was delivered there when a disproportionately large number of asteroids possibly collided with the early terrestrial planets in the inner Solar System about four billion years ago.

Gold is found in ore inside rocks formed from the Precambrian time and typically occurs as a native metal. It is almost always mixed with silver. Often you will find gold mixed with quartz or sulfide minerals, more commonly known as ―fool's gold‖. Small flakes of gold that wind their way through
streams and rivers can be welded into nuggets by water movement.

Another recent study claims earthquakes cause additional stores of this resource to be released. We all know when an earthquake strikes, it travels along fault lines. Around ten kilometers below the
surface the water travels under great pressure and at extremely high temperatures. The flowing vapors
fill small cracks and fissures with a mix of carbon dioxide, silica, and gold. When the fault jog suddenly widens, a steam flash forces silica (which forms the quartz) and gold out of the fluids and onto nearby surfaces. Apparently, the world's oceans are a veritable gold mine as well.

It is estimated that about 2/3 of the world's gold has been mined from South Africa alone. Over 90% of the world's gold has been mined since the California gold rush and Fort Knox and the Fed combined hold only 11 tonnes of gold in reserve. So as a limited valuable commodity that cannot be
printed at will, it makes sense to attain as much as possible before the price skyrockets.

Source of Information : Ask About Gold By Michael Ruge