31 Incredible Facts about Gold

31 INCREDIBLE FACTS ABOUT GOLD 3rd largestunmined reserves Almost 40% of all the gold ever mined in history came from South Africa over just the last 130 years. It still holds the world's 3rd largest unmined reserves, behind Australia and Russia. The last 130 years 40% NY 60mins gold 3.9 Km steel 5,890 tonnes The world's largest gold hoard is The deepest mine in the world is not at Fort Knox, but in the New the Mponeng gold mine, southwest of Johannesburg. York Federal Reserve. Weighing The world produced more steel 5,890 tonnes, over 93% actually South Africa, where miners now every hour in 2015 than all the belongs to foreign governments, drill more than 3.9 kilometres below ground (2.4 miles). Rock temperatures reach 55°C (131'F). Huge refrigeration and pumping gold ever mined in history. who use the NY Fed for secure storage. Similarly, the Bank of England in London holds some 5,130 tonnes, but only 6% belongs equipment cool the air to a more bearable 28°C (82°F) to the UK government. 1g 165m welcome stranger 540 ft The world's largest gold nugget Gold is rare on Earth because it's was the "Welcome Stranger" rare in the Universe. Unlike iron found in Victoria, Australia in 1869. or carbon, it isn't created inside It weighed oer 71 kg of which 65 kg became refined or pure gold, Gold is the most ductile of all stars, according to the elements. One gram can be Harvard-Smithsonian Center for worth $2.6 million or £1.8 million stretched 165 metres long (540 Astrophysics, but by the today. The largest nugget still in feet) with the diameter of a collision of former supernova existence however is the "Hand of human hair. 'neutron' stars - a "very fast, Faith," found in 1980 in Australia. catastrophic, extremely Weighing 27 kg, it can be seen on energetic type of explosion". display at the Golden Nugget Casino in Las Vegas. KING MIDAS Money began with gold coins in Gold was the basis of the world's the Asia Minor kingdom of Lydia monetary system as recently as Gold is one of the most dense 1971, when the United States - (now part of Turkey) around 560 B.C. Legend says the gold came elements, even more dense than lacking the bullion to back the lead. A billiard ball made of gold from the river Pactolus, in which currency already printed will weigh the same as a baseball King Midas supposedly washed abandoned the dollar's away his ability to turn all he exchange rate of 1/35th of an ounce on 15th August. made of lead. touched into gold. Central Bank Technology 10% 10% Jewellery accounts for 60% of world gold demand each year. Technology uses 10%, investment bars and coins 20%, and central bank demand around 10%. Investment bars and coins Jewellery 20% 60% China is now the world's largest Olympic gold medals were pure The largest gold coin in the world market for gold jewellery, with gold until 1912. Today they only is the 1 tonne Australian Kangaroo and is issued as Australian legal sales of 780 tonnes in 2015. It is contain 1.34% gold, which also the No.1 gold mining equates to about 6g. At today's price this would be worth $237 tender with a denomination of 1 nation, and the No.1 importer of million Australian dollars. gold bullion. or £168. Gold's high value makes e-scrap a Lying at the bottom of the The world's earliest gold relics fast-growing segment of the Caribbean near Colombia since date from 4500 B.C. and were recycling industry. One tonne of 1708, Spanish galleon the San discovered in burial sites at José may contain $4-17 billion of gold, silver and emeralds from the smartphones contains roughly 10 Varna, Bulgaria. Weighing 6kg in troy ounces of gold. Two hundred laptops would yield 5 troy ounces. total, the 3,000 gold artifects mines of Peru. included bracelets, thimbles, sceptres and beads. 110 Kg 400 x Gold solid gold Lake Guatavita near modern-day Bogota in the Colombian Andes Gold is mentioned more than was a sacred lake for the Muisca Though King Tutankhamun was a minor Pharaoh who died aged 18, four hundred times in the Bible people. Covered in gold dust, each new leader would throw and includes precise details the innermost of his 3 coffins was from God to cover furniture in golden treasure into the water made of solid gold weighing the tabernacle with "pure gold". from a raft, and then dive in to 110kg - perhaps more than all the It is also estimated that, by appease the gods - a ritual which today's prices, the gold in Solomon's Temple would be gold mined in Ancient Egypt grew into the 16th century legend during his lifetime. of El Dorado amongst the valued at $50 billion. gold-hungry Spanish Conquistadors. $7.6 m The most expensive gold coin ever auctioned was a 1933 $20 St. Gaudens Double Eagle, sold in 2002 for $7.6 millions. That beats $3.8 m the Ancient Greek gold starter $3.7 m $0.7 m sold for $3.8m in 2015, the 8th century Umayyad dinar sold for $3.7m in 2011, and Edward III double florin for $0.7m in 2006. ayoota (2.9 Kg) APP On 20th August 2015, a customer Measured on the karat scale, pure If a goose did lay a golden egg. it would weigh almost 2.9kg and of trading exchange BullionVault gold is 24 karats. The word karat derives from the Arabic qirat, or bought 21.39kg of gold for £500,310 (then $780,000) using be worth near $115,000 or carob bean, according to its Android app - one of the £81,000 today. Merriam-Webster. Carob beans were once used by gold sellers to balance their scales. world's largest purchases made using a smartphone to date. UV sunlight 3.9 m coffee Gold smuggling has jumped after The world's largest solid-gold Gold can be used in skyscraper India raised import duty to 10% in 2013. Customs officials have object is the 5-tonne Golden windows to reduce both heat and UV from sunlight. Each of the 14,000 panes of glass in the Royal Buddha now sitting in the Wat found contraband bullion hidden Traimit Temple in Bangkok, inside the metallic rod of a trolley Thailand. Made some time in the bag: inside padded bras with Bank Plaza in Toronto, Canada 13-15th centuries of 9 pieces gold-coated linings, hooks and contains 5 grams of 24 karat gold, ranging from 40-80% fine gold, rings; as the staples holding now worth over $2.7 million or the statue is 3.9 metres tall and together cardboard boxes; and in £1.9 million in total! 3.1m across. the form of dust, mixed with coffee powder in sealed cans. 1L 13 billionths of a gram 1 litre of sea water contains around 13 billionths of a gram of Our bodies contain about 0.2 It is estimated that there is as gold. Maybe someday Nobel Prize winner Fritz Haber's plans to milligrams of gold, most of it in our blood. That equates to 1 troy much as $2.6 million worth of gold and silver in sewage sludge, electrochemically recover some of ounce per 155,000 people. with 0.4mg of gold in each the estimated 8 million tonnes kilogram of sewage. from the world's oceans will be realized. The Mediterranean could contain 288 tonnes of gold. The most valuable archaeological find of modern times was the Środa Treasure, discovered during demolition work in Środa Śląska, south-west Poland, in 1985-88. Valued at $50-100 million. and starting with a vase containing 3,000 silver coins from 12th century Prague, the hoard in- cluded gold coins, brooches, rings and a crown probably worn by Blanche of Valois, first wife of 14th century emperor Charles IV. NOTE: Gold Price pm fix 16th March $1,228.50/£872.64 per Troy Ounce ($39,487.19/£28,056.16 per Kg) References BullionVault rsc.org worldsteel.org telegraph.co.uk livescience.com www.BullionVault.com metalsfocus.com theguardian.com science.nationalgeographic.com