Gold is one of the softest and most malleable of the metals. It can be pressed extremely thin, crafted into shapes even drawn out to form a fine ware and all without breaking. Gold isn’t affected by water or oxygen as many metals are so it doesn’t rust or tarnish either.
Most gold comes from low deposits also called vein deposits concentration of gold and other metals in the cracks of rocks, low deposits require hard rock mining the process of removing gold bearing rock called all by drilling and blasting. Miners descend more than half a kilometer on the ground. There they drill holes for explosives using what’s called a long hole and drill.
They drill in a specific pattern set out in a plan prepared by the mines engineers. The engineers know exactly where those veins of gold are thanks to the mining companies’ geologist who studied the ore samples.
The company collects this samples by drilling deep into the rock at fifteen meter intervals, this diamond drill course as they called are up to 100 meters long and measures 3 ½ centimeters in diameter. Gold in its natural state isn’t pure, it’s usually intertwined with silver or other metals, so the mined ore has to be processed afterward to isolate and extract the gold. A metric ton of ore yields only about 6 ½ grams of gold.
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