Where does gold come from?

Many people know that gold has value, but few know why. Where does gold actually come from? And why is it that gold is so scarce? This page explains how gold is created, where it is found in the earth and what this means for the value and availability of gold.

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The origins of gold

Although gold is extracted from the earth, surprisingly enough, the precious metal does not originate on Earth. Gold is so heavy that it can only be produced in extreme cosmic occurrences.

Scientists now agree that gold is formed by so-called supernova explosions (massive star blasts) and neutron star collisions.

These events release an enormous amount of energy, which can create heavy elements such as gold. This phenomenon has probably already occurred billions of years before the Earth was formed venue.
When our solar system formed, this gold became mixed with cosmic dust and rock. That's how gold ended up on Earth.

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How old is gold?

Gold is estimated over 4 billion years old. It gold that you buy today, is therefore older than the Earth itself. This is also one of the reasons why gold is such unique and lasting value has: it does not decay, does not rust and does not change its composition.

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How does gold form in the Earth?

Although gold is created in space, it ends up on Earth through the following processes:

• Gold is scattered deep in the Earth's crust in very small amounts
• By landslides, volcanic activity and high pressure gold is brought to the surface
• Through cracks in rock, gold is deposited in veins and deposits

In addition, plays weathering an important role. Rock wears off due to wind and water, causing gold particles to be released.

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Where is gold in the ground?

Gold is most commonly found in quartz veins deep underground, in old river deposits or in combination with metals such as copper and silver. The concentration of gold in rock is extremely low. Om one gram of gold To extract, more than a ton of rock usually has to be processed.

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How does gold get into rivers?

Gold is heavy. When rock with gold crumbles, lighter materials wash away, while gold stays behind. That's why gold is often found in river beds, in river bends, and behind large stones. This is why gold miners traditionally “wash” gold in rivers.

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Is gold also in space?

Yes. In fact: most of all gold is still in space. Asteroids are floating around with an estimated more gold than has ever been mined on Earth.

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Where is the most gold found today?

Gold mining is highly concentrated in a small number of countries. The table below shows the largest gold producing countries and their share of global gold production.

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Historically, it was also South Africa a dominant producer, but production has fallen sharply.

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What happens to the gold price if a lot of gold is suddenly found?

In theory, a major new find could ensure that the gold price decreases significantly. In practice, this is highly unlikely. New (large) finds are extremely rare and it takes years before gold actually comes on the market.

The total gold supply grows yearly with only 1% to 2% and that is why gold expected structurally scarce.

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Can synthetic gold affect the price?

No. Although gold can be imitated at the atomic level in laboratories, this is very expensive and not scalable. Synthetic gold has no influence on the global gold market and forms for now no serious threat to the value of physical gold.