It is seldom that one can pass a jeweller’s window and not gaze in fascination at the beautiful wares on offer. The gold chains glint beneath the lights, tempting the purchaser with a lustrous glow that is particular only to gold itself. We don these expensive decorative items, but offer little thought to how they come into being.
Gold chains begin life in a very different form to what we purchase in the high-end jewellery store. South Africa, the United States of America and Australia are What Is The Major Industries In Indonesia the largest gold producers in the world, in that order. In the United States, most gold is obtained above the ground, in what is referred to as open pit mining.
Believe it or not, geologists are called upon to do land surveys and by use of such tools as geochemistry and state of the art satellite surveys, they determine where an ore deposit might Industrial Production Investopedia be found. Computer graphics are used to design the layout of the mine long before any physical steps are taken. Once all the necessary permits are obtained, things begin to progress.
Samples of the gold ore are extracted and examined to determine the quality and metallurgical characteristics. Depending on the rock type and quality of the ore, the broken rocks will either be sent to an area for processing low grade or high grade ore. Low grade ore is broken into smaller pieces and set to percolate in a diluted cyanide solution, which dissolves the gold. This solution is then collected.
High grade ore is generally ground into powder in a specialized mill and then undergoes one of three processes. It may either be heated to 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit, burning off all the sulphide and carbon, before being passed on to the leaching circuit, where it is dissolved with a cyanide solution. Alternatively, it may go directly to the leaching circuit or it is oxidized to separate the gold from other minerals.
Activated carbon is then used to leach the gold from the cyanide solution. The next step in the process is to strip the gold from the carbon in a specialized process. The gold containing solution is then put through an electrolytic process and the gold is then melted into gold bars. The gold bars are then sent to a refinery where the refining process renders them 999.9% pure.
The gold is then put through a process of annealing (heating and then quenching) as it is put through a rolling mill, stretching it out into gold wire. It is this gold wire that is purchased by the gold smith or gold manufacturer. Gold chains are either handmade or mass produced.
The goldsmith then works the gold wire into the desired shaped rings by use of a specialized set of tools that decides the shape of each individual ring. The individual rings are annealed to ensure that there are no breaks in the links. The fire scale is removed by coating the gold in a compound and then rolling it in a machine to polish it. It is then rinsed in a special solution to remove the compound. Voila! Your gold chain is ready for purchase.
