Image:
18 ct white and yellow gold rings with coloured sapphires
18 ct white and yellow gold rings with coloured sapphires
Mining is required when gold is encased in rock. If the deposits are close to the surface, open-pit mining is used where the rock is blasted from ground level and ore extracted. When deposits are much deeper, underground mining through tunnels and shafts is used.
Both methods need the gold to be extracted from its ore. Probably the most common method is by using cyanide. The ore is crushed and milled into sand or smaller sized grains which is then mixed with water to form a slurry. The slurry then taken to a leaching plant where the ore is mixed with a cyanide solution. The gold particles bond with the cyanide which is then removed from the slurry and before precipitation to extract the pure gold.
Where gold is in very small concentrations, open-pit mines often use the cyanide heap leach method using huge leach pads, placed over entire mountainsides for this low-cost, but environmentally risky system of gold extraction.
Gold mining in this manner is a dirty industry: it can displace communities, contaminate drinking water, hurt workers, and destroy pristine environments.
The Allen Brown Gallery is committed to recycling and reusing gold wherever possible as well as finding sustainable sources of alluvial-sourced gold. We are committed to promoting ethically and environmentally sourced gold and working towards an industry where there is no dirty gold.
Opening Hours:
Tuesday-Sunday 10am-5pm
Open Bank holidays
Closed Mondays except during December