History Gold

4000 B.C. A culture, centered in what is today Eastern Europe,
begins to use gold to fashion decorative objects. The
gold was probably mined in the Transylvanian Alps or
the Mount Pangaion area in Thrace.
3000 B.C. The Sumer civilization of southern Iraq uses gold to
create a wide range of jewelry, often using
sophisticated and varied styles still worn today.
2500 B.C. Gold jewelry is buried in the Tomb of Djer, king of the
First Egyptian Dynasty, at Abydos, Egypt.
1500 B.C. The immense gold-bearing regions of Nubia make
Egypt a wealthy nation, as gold becomes the
recognized standard medium of exchange for
international trade.
The Shekel, a coin originally weighing 11.3 grams of
gold, becomes a standard unit of measure in the
Middle East. It contained a naturally occurring alloy
called electrum that was approximately two-thirds
gold and one-third silver.
1350 B.C. The Babylonians begin to use fire assay to test the
purity of gold.
1200 B.C. The Egyptians master the art of beating gold into leaf
to extend its use, as well as alloying it with other
metals for hardness and color variations. They also
start casting gold using the lost-wax technique
that today is still at the heart of jewelry making.
Unshorn sheepskin is used to recover gold dust from
river sands on the eastern shores of the Black Sea.
After slucing the sands through the sheepskins, they

Gold Data

Crystal Data: Cubic. Point Group: 4/m 3 2/m. As octahedra, dodecahedra, and cubes,
typically crude or rounded, to about 5 cm; also elongated k [111]. In twinned and parallel crystal
groups; reticulated, dendritic, arborescent, platy, filiform, spongy; massive, and in rounded
nuggets; scales and flakes. Twinning: Common on {111}; repeated to form reticulated and
dendritic aggregates.
Physical Properties: Fracture: Hackly. Tenacity: Very malleable and ductile.
Hardness = 2.5–3 VHN = 30–34, 44-58 (argentian) (10 g load). D(meas.) = 19.3
D(calc.) = 19.302
Optical Properties: Opaque in all but thinnest foils. Color: Gold-yellow with a reddish
tint when pure, silver-white to copper-red when impure; blue and green in transmitted light.
Luster: Metallic.
R: (400) 36.8, (420) 36.8, (440) 36.4, (460) 36.1, (480) 36.7, (500) 45.3, (520) 62.5, (540) 75.0,
(560) 82.2, (580) 86.8, (600) 89.7, (620) 91.9, (640) 93.3, (660) 94.1, (680) 94.8, (700) 95.3
Cell Data: Space Group: Fm3m. a = 4.0786 Z = 4
X-ray Powder Pattern: Synthetic.
2.355 (100), 2.039 (52), 1.230 (36), 1.442 (32), 0.9357 (23), 0.8325 (23), 0.9120 (22)
Chemistry: (1)
Au 99.6
Cu 0.1
(1)
Ag 0.1
Total 99.8
(1) Porthcurnick Beach, Cornwall, England; by electron microprobe. Commonly contains Ag, Cu,
Fe; rarely Pb, Ti, Sb, Hg, V, Bi, Mn, As, Sn, Zn, Pd, Pt, Cd, many other elements.
Polymorphism & Series: Forms a series with silver.
Occurrence: Widespread in very small quantities in rocks of many kinds throughout the world,
and in sea water. In veins of epithermal origin, typically in quartz with pyrite and other sulfides,
and with tellurides; in pegmatites; in contact metamorphic deposits. Common in placers.
Association: Pyrite, chalcopyrite, arsenopyrite, pyrrhotite, sylvanite, krennerite, calaverite,
altaite, tetradymite, scheelite, ankerite, tourmaline, quartz.
Distribution: Many localities for fine specimens. In Russia, in Siberia, along the eastern slope
of the Ural Mountains; important localities near Yekaterinburg (Sverdlovsk), as at Beresovsk; in
the Miass district; large crystal groups from along the Lena River, Sakha. Sharply crystallized
from Romania, at Ro¸sia Montan˘a (Verespatak) and S˘ac˘arˆımb (Nagy´ag). In Australia, many
occurrences, as at Bendigo, Ballarat, and Matlock, Victoria; along the Palmer River and at
Gympie, Queensland; from Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, with gold telluride ores, also very
large alluvial nuggets. At the Porgera mine, Mt. Kare, Papua New Guinea. The world’s most
important gold district is the Witwatersrand, Transvaal, South Africa, which, however, only rarely
produces crystalline material. In Canada, especially in Ontario, in the Porcupine and Hemlo
districts. In the USA, in California, in the Mother Lode belt of the Sierra Nevada, with fine
examples from both lode and placer deposits. In South Dakota, from the Homestake mine at
Lead, Lawrence Co.; in Colorado, wire and leaf gold from Breckenridge, Summit Co.; in Lake Co.,
at Leadville; in Alaska, in lode mines in the Juneau district and placers along the Yukon River.
Near Santa Elena, in the Grand Savannah River region, Venezuela, a placer producing exceptional
skeletal crystals. A bonanza gold rush occurred at Serra Pelada, Par´a, Brazil.
Name: An Old English word for the metal; perhaps related to the Sanskrit jval; chemical
symbol from the Latin aurum, shining dawn.
References: (1) Palache, C., H. Berman, and C. Frondel (1944) Dana’s system of mineralogy,
(7th edition), v. I, 90–95. (2) Jones, R.S. and M. Fleischer (1969) Gold in minerals and the
composition of native gold. U.S. Geol. Surv. Circ. 612, 17 pp. (3) Ewald, P.P. and C. Hermann,
Eds. (1931) Gold, Au. Strukturbereicht, 1, 38–40 (in German). (3) (1953) NBS Circ. 539, 1, 33.
(4) Criddle, A.J. and C.J. Stanley, Eds. (1993) Quantitative data file for ore minerals, 3rd ed.
Chapman & Hall, London, 204.