1. What's the consumption of gold by the United States?
2. How is gold processed from its raw form?
2006-10-17 10:29:36 · 5 answers · asked by c00kies 5 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Earth Sciences & Geology
Well, all I was able to find on US gold consumption was a 1998 value of 428.4 metric tons.
Gold occurs in all kinds of different rocks, and usually the first stage of extraction is mining, either underground or open pitting (in rare cases "placer deposits", the gold is free and is washed from the sand). Anyways, after that the gold "ore" is taken to the mill where it is crushed into tiny pieces by a machine that basically looks like a clothes dryer, but way way way bigger. The gold ore usually goes through a number of these things, some of which will have steel balls of various sizes to break the rock appart, others may have steel rods. The rocks and balls all smash together and the rock gets pulverized into powder.
After that's done, the ore then goes into a series of flotation circuits that have a fairly dense liquid in them. The liquid mixed with the rock is then "frothed", or injected with air, and so the gold flakes are carried upwards and float out over the edge of the flotation cell. Then the gold is carried away and dried out. This is called your concentrate, and is much richer than the actual ore (which is usually only a few grams per ton).
After this, the gold concentrate is shipped offsite to a smelter where the concentrate is melted down, and impurities are seperated out and gold bars are poured.
That's the basics of it. Hope that helps.
2006-10-17 15:37:21 · answer #1 · answered by jamesthecanadian 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No gold is not a mineral, it's a metal. There is no crystal structure in gold. Gold can be precipitated along side minerals but will never be contained within these minerals structurally. Gold prices rise and fall due to supply and demand. The price is also artificially inflated but the US government by with holding gold in places like Fort Knox to reduce the market supply.
2016-05-21 21:40:45 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Gold processing is done in different forms. It all depends on the ore.
US consumption.....???? Don't know.
2006-10-17 10:31:36 · answer #3 · answered by Eldude 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Gold is a metal, not a mineral :/
2006-10-17 10:30:32 · answer #4 · answered by icez 4 · 0⤊ 4⤋
www.goldmineral.org
2006-10-17 10:30:49 · answer #5 · answered by shewolf2899 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋