Gold Extraction Through The Ages

We outlined an informative timeline to give a glimpse into the history of the precious metal that was mined, used and adored throughout the ages. Physical evidence and written references to early gold extraction and refining methods are scarce, but it is safe to say that humans have throughout history gone to great lengths in pursuit of this great substance.

c. 4000 BC The populous living across the Transylvanian Alps (today’s Romania and Serbia) began to mine and extract gold to craft simple jewelry and decorate their daily objects.

c. 3600 BC The first written gold history describes Egyptian goldsmiths blowing pipes made from fire-resistant clay to heat a smelting furnace in order to extract gold. They were melting or fusing the ores inside those furnaces to separate metals.

c. 3000 BC The Sumer civilization of southern Iraq uses gold to create jewelry. Many of those designs and styles are still worn today.

c. 1500 BC The Shekel, a coin originally weighing 11.3 grams of gold, becomes a standard unit of measure in the Middle East.

1350 BC The Babylonians begin to use fire assay to test the purity of gold.

c. 1200 BC First known separation of gold from silver within the modern regions of southern Turkey.

1223 BC The Tutankhamen mask was created. Today this is the most known and the most celebrated burial mask in the world.

1091 BC Little squares of gold are legalized in China as a form of money which was used among borders of the Empire.

950 BC Queen of Sheba from Yemen offered to King Solomon of Israel 2,500 kilograms of gold to overlay his renowned temple, which soon after was destroyed.

560 BC King Croesus has improved gold refining techniques which have permitted him to create “Croesids”, the first golden monetary currency that was traded universally across Mediterranean regions and beyond. The gold extraction was mostly conducted through placer methods, but in many places the fleece of a sheep has become the first natural “filter” that was able to absorb golden particles. Water powers were used to propel gold-bearing sand to trap tiny flakes of gold. When the fleece would absorb all it could hold, it was hung up to dry. Then fleeces would be beaten gently until all golden flakes were released and recovered.

c. 400 BC The first reference to the salt and urine cementation parting were written in India.

50 BC Romans begin issuing a gold coin called the Aureus. They concisely diverted streams of water to capture gold particles. Their power behind the gold extraction was so tangible that in fact Romans established gold monetary standard for centuries to come.

814 AD Charlemagne overruns the Avars and plunders their vast quantities of gold, making it possible for him to take control over much of Western Europe.

1200 AD German monk Theophilus wrote in details and with specific measurements about salt cementation processes that were used in the Western Europe.

1511 AD King Ferdinand of Spain launched massive expeditions to the lands of the Western Hemisphere by saying to explorers, “Get gold, humanely if you can, but all hazards, get gold.”

1700 AD Isaac Newton, as Master of the Mint, fixes the price of gold in Great Britain at 84 shillings, 11 & ½ pence per troy ounce.  The Royal Commission composed of Newton, John Locke, and Lord Somers, recommends a recall of all old currency, issuance of new specie with gold/silver ratio of 16-to-1.  This gold price established in Great Britain lasted for over 200 year.

1787 AD First U.S. gold coin is struck by Ephraim Brasher, a goldsmith.

1860 AD The Miller process was developed, which uses chlorine gas to molten golden mixture.

1870 AD The Wohlwill process was developed to remove platinum from gold, where this technique us the most commonly used until today.

1848 AD John Marshall finds gold while building sawmill for John Sutter near Sacramento, California, triggering the California Gold Rush.

1971 AD On August 15, U.S. terminates all gold sales or purchases, thereby ending conversion of foreign officially held dollars into gold, where the US dollar was proclaimed into a fiat currency and ultimately become the basis of national reserves across the globe.

As of today, the ten biggest holders of gold reserves in metric tons are: 1) USA (8972); 2) Germany (8133); 3) IMF (2814); 4) Italy (2451); 5) France (2435); 6) China (1054); 7) Switzerland (1040); 8) Russia (1015); 9) Japan (765); and 10) Netherlands  (612).