How long has gold been mined

Some economists also believe that the inability to increase the money supply under the gold standard puts a limit on the amount an economy can grow. The gold standard tends to restrict central banks from taking measures to correct issues within an economy.

Angie Picardo, of NerdWallet, believes that a perfect current example of the perils of the gold standard could be seen during the global financial crisis in the Eurozone, especially Greece. Although the Euro is not pegged to gold, the nature of the fixed Euro exchange rate across the Eurozone made it very difficult for struggling economies to get out of the crisis.

The necessity to maintain a fixed exchange rate with other stronger economies in the Eurozone made it difficult to manipulate the Euro as well as the money supply to combat effects of the crisis.

Roubini argues that the gold standard and other fixed exchange rate regimes also exacerbate shifts in the business cycle. It was only once we moved to fiat money that central banks were able to smooth the business cycle, and make it less volatile, as we did during the financial economic crisis. Some have cited that another disadvantage of the gold standard is that countries with less reserves are at a significant disadvantage to those with more gold reserves.

There are still advocates for the gold standard, many coming out during the global financial crisis citing, among other advantages, that the gold standard would create greater price stability than issuing fiat money based solely on confidence. Austrian Economic Theory is famed for favoring the gold standard. Proponents of Austrian economics believe that manipulating the money supply after the gold standard abandonment is what has actually led to instability in global financial markets over the years.

The Fed as it currently operates is clearly a cartelization device that shoves new money into the pockets of rich bankers, and that allows the government to finance massive deficits much more cheaply than would otherwise be possible. Having presented the advantages and disadvantages above, there is no doubt that the mainstream economic view is that the gold standard is not a feasible way forward.

However, it must be said, as with many things in this world, there are two sides to every coin. If you have made it this far, you will know that gold has a long history of human obsession dating back over years. From the very first time that mankind laid eyes on gold, it has led to an insatiable desire for the metal that has never wavered. That mutual desire for gold that captivated civilizations all over the world independently of each other facilitated the global adoption of gold as a medium of exchange and later, of course, the gold standard.

Since the end of the gold standard the price and production of gold has skyrocketed globally and along with it, so has demand. Judging by the last years or so, it seems unlikely that our obsession with the precious metal will change any time soon. Make sure to catch the rest of this FocusEconomics blog series on gold in which we will seek to convey why gold is such a precious metal.

Part three will cover the top economic gold producers in the world and their economic outlooks for Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of FocusEconomics S.

Views, forecasts or estimates are as of the date of the publication and are subject to change without notice. This report may provide addresses of, or contain hyperlinks to, other internet websites. FocusEconomics S. COP26 kicked off in Glasgow last week, and fossil fuels are big on the agenda.

Major Economies. South-Eastern Europe. Sub-Saharan Africa. Central America. Monetary and Financial Sector. Precious Metals. Region Reports. Country Reports. Annual Subscriptions. Gold A History of Obsession People most likely first discovered gold in streams and rivers all over the world with its beauty and luster catching the eye.

How will energy commodities perform this year? Iron Ore and the Australian Dollar: two peas in a pod? What is really going on with Crude Oil prices? Gold Price Outlook. Gold was money in ancient Greece. Gold was associated with water logical, since most of it was found in streams , and it was supposed that gold was a particularly dense combination of water and sunlight. As far back as B.

In ancient Egypt, around the time of Seti I B. Where is that gold mine located? Modern thought is that it portrays the Wadi Fawakhir region in which the El Sid gold mine is located, but the matter is far from settled. Jason and the Argonauts sought the Golden Fleece around B. Early miners would use water power to propel gold-bearing sand over the hide of a sheep, which would trap the tiny, but heavy, flakes of gold.

This primitive form of hydraulic mining began thousands of years ago, and was still being used by some miners as recently as the California gold rush of The first use of gold as money occurred around B. Their science may have been primitive, but the Greeks learned much about the practicalities of gold mining. By the time of the death of Alexander of Macedon B.

Some of the mines were owned by the state, some were worked privately with a royalty paid to the state. Also, nomads such as the Scythians and Cimmerians worked placer mines all over the region. The surviving Greek gold coinage and Scythian jewelry both show superb artistry. The Roman Empire furthered the quest for gold. The Romans mined gold extensively throughout their empire, and advanced the science of gold-mining considerably.

They were able to more efficiently exploit old mine-sites, and of course their chief laborers were prisoners of war, slaves, and convicts. A monetary standard made the world economy possible. The concept of money, i. During the Classic period of Greek and Roman rule in the western world, gold and silver both flowed to India for spices, and to China for silk. At the height of the Empire A. Money had been invented. The difference in density enables gold to be concentrated by gravity and permits the separation of gold from clay, silt, sand, and gravel by various agitating and collecting devices such as the gold pan , rocker, and sluicebox.

Nevada gold mine: Fortitude Mine in Nevada produced about 2 million ounces of gold from a lode deposit between and USGS image. Mercury quicksilver has a chemical affinity for gold. When mercury is added to gold-bearing material, the two metals form an amalgam. Mercury is later separated from amalgam by retorting.

Extraction of gold and other precious metals from their ores by treatment with mercury is called amalgamation. Gold dissolves in aqua regia, a mixture of hydrochloric and nitric acids, and in sodium or potassium cyanide. The latter solvent is the basis for the cyanide process that is used to recover gold from low-grade ore. The firehose blasts the sediment outcrop, washing away sand, clay, gravel and gold particles. The material is then processed to remove the gold. The degree of purity of native gold, bullion bars or ingots of unrefined gold , and refined gold is stated in terms of gold content.

For example, a gold nugget containing parts of pure gold and parts of other metals , such as silver and copper , would be considered fine.

Thus, karat 14K gold indicates a composition of 14 parts of gold and 10 parts of other metals. Incidentally, 14K gold is commonly used in jewelry manufacture. The basic unit of weight used in dealing with gold is the troy ounce. One troy ounce is equivalent to 20 troy pennyweights. In the jewelry industry, the common unit of measure is the pennyweight dwt. The term "gold-filled" is used to describe articles of jewelry made of base metal which are covered on one or more surfaces with a layer of gold alloy.

A quality mark may be used to show the quantity and fineness of the gold alloy. In the United States no article having a gold alloy coating of less than karat fineness may have any quality mark affixed. Lower limits are permitted in some countries. No article having a gold alloy portion of less than one-twentieth by weight may be marked "gold-filled," but articles may be marked "rolled gold plate" provided the proportional fraction and fineness designations are also shown.

Electroplated jewelry items carrying at least 7 millionths of an inch 0. Gold sluice: Portable gold sluice. Miners place the sluice in the stream and dump sediments in the upstream side. The current transports the sediments through the sluice and the heavy gold particles become lodged in the sluice.

One miner can process a lot more sediment through a sluice than through a gold pan. Gold is relatively scarce in the earth, but it occurs in many different kinds of rocks and in many different geological environments. Though scarce, gold is concentrated by geologic processes to form commercial deposits of two principal types: lode primary deposits and placer secondary deposits.

Lode deposits are the targets for the "hardrock" prospector seeking gold at the site of its deposition from mineralizing solutions. Geologists have proposed various hypotheses to explain the source of solutions from which mineral constituents are precipitated in lode deposits. One widely accepted hypothesis proposes that many gold deposits, especially those found in igneous and sedimentary rocks , formed from circulating groundwaters driven by heat from bodies of magma molten rock intruded into the Earth's crust within about 2 to 5 miles of the surface.

Active geothermal systems, which are exploited in parts of the United States for natural hot water and steam, provide a modern analog for these gold-depositing systems.

Most of the water in geothermal systems originates as rainfall, which moves downward through fractures and permeable beds in cooler parts of the crust and is drawn laterally into areas heated by magma, where it is driven upward through fractures. As the water is heated, it dissolves metals from the surrounding rocks. When the heated waters reach cooler rocks at shallower depths, metallic minerals precipitate to form veins or blanket-like ore bodies.

Another hypothesis suggests that gold-bearing solutions may be expelled from magma as it cools, precipitating ore materials as they move into cooler surrounding rocks.

This hypothesis is applied particularly to gold deposits located in or near masses of granitic rock, which represent solidified magma. A third hypothesis is applied mainly to gold-bearing veins in metamorphic rocks that occur in mountain belts at continental margins. In the mountain-building process, sedimentary and volcanic rocks may be deeply buried or thrust under the edge of the continent, where they are subjected to high temperatures and pressures resulting in chemical reactions that change the rocks to new mineral assemblages metamorphism.

This hypothesis suggests that water is expelled from the rocks and migrates upwards, precipitating ore materials as pressures and temperatures decrease. The ore metals are thought to originate from the rocks undergoing active metamorphism.

The primary concerns of the prospector or miner interested in a lode deposit of gold are to determine the average gold content tenor per ton of mineralized rock and the size of the deposit. From these data, estimates can be made of the deposit's value. One of the most commonly used methods for determining the gold and silver content of mineralized rocks is the fire assay. The results are reported as troy ounces of gold or silver or both per short avoirdupois ton of ore or as grams per metric ton of ore.

Gold dredge: A scuba diver vacuums sediment to be processed by a portable gold dredge. Scuba gear allows the prospector to carefully get access to cracks and crevices on the stream bed where gold nuggets might be lodged. Placer deposits represent concentrations of gold derived from lode deposits by erosion, disintegration or decomposition of the enclosing rock, and subsequent concentration by gravity.

Gold is extremely resistant to weathering and, when freed from enclosing rocks, is carried downstream as metallic particles consisting of "dust," flakes, grains, or nuggets.