Where to Find Gold: How Has Gold Mining Changed?
Over time gold mining has undergone a major change that is far beyond imagination. The technologies used today make it possible to make the gold industry in the 21st century a modern enterprise.
Let’s go deep, and try to understand the true story of how gold is produced.
First of all, from the mines where it is found, the gold is then transported by helicopter to destinations where it will be processed and then sold.
The video shows the depths of a mine in South Africa. The place where the helicopter begins its load. Gold is found much deeper than the helicopter landing zone …
Inside the mine, where the tunnels can reach up to five kilometers in depth, the degrees centigrade can rise up to 50, but thanks to the cold air system that is continuously pumped into the tunnel, the work of the extraction of the gold is much more bearable.
Those who work in a gold mine represent a highly skilled workforce, the social and economic benefits that both nations and communities derive from it are of significant importance.
Where to find gold: open pit mines
There are not only mines with deep tunnels but also open pit mines (which are created when the gold is on the surface). In these cases the type of sacrifice required for gold mining is different.
What does it take to extract gold from the raw material?
It is necessary to carry out complicated chemical steps that require time and extreme attention.
But let’s see some important details together. Most gold nowadays is found in microscopic particles within rocks, which of course are invisible to the human eye.
Each ton of ore produces less than about 10 grams of gold. Mining begins with crushing and processing the ore.
In the mine shown in the video, this work is done by huge drums, which cause the rock to then be crushed into grains and mixed with water to form a slurry.
The dough, in turn, is pumped into huge tanks for the next, most important stage of the extraction process. Some small amounts of cyanide are carefully inserted into the tank to form a very dilute solution.
The safety to carry out the process in every phase is very important and modern mines have strict rules that serve to prevent damage to health and the environment; the use of cyanide for example is entrusted to a manager who pours it into the tank, filtering the gold from the raw mineral.