![]() ![]() Still, it was gold’s “rediscovery” on January 24, 1848, at Sutter’s Mill that would compel some 300,000 individuals over the next five years to heedlessly travel over land and sea-driven by their heady dreams of “striking it rich.” One infamous group of intransigent, ill-fated immigrants would endure crossing the harsh desert homeland of the Timbisha Shoshone during its 1849 quest to obtain gold further west. After Mexican Independence in 1821, location and extraction of gold remained a priority. Nevada and Arizona have additionally had their share of bedeviled bouts with the stuff, although the Silver State is more famous for its Comstock Lode.Įxploration of the Mojave Desert was driven by the desire to locate gold-the Spanish began actively mining gold in Alta California as early as 1775 at the Potholes, near Yuma, Arizona. Hence, California’s relationship with gold is both complicated and intimate. ![]() Regardless, the United States remains the world’s largest holder of gold reserves.ĭiscovery and attainment of gold are inextricably tied to the expansion of the American West-most significantly within California-which lists gold (Au) as its official state mineral. The golden bridal dowry-a practice outlawed in the country since 1961-continues to be customary for traditional weddings. Today, the largest consumer of gold is India. It is estimated that 166,000 metric tons of gold have been mined throughout human history. Only ten percent is used for industrial purposes. Another 40 percent is hoarded for wealth. With the pandemonium gold has caused throughout time, it may come as a surprise for the reader that this celebrated metallic element is sought primarily for vanity-about half the gold mined historically and presently is fashioned into jewelry. Without question, this process is exceptionally infrequent, extraordinary and magical. Later they are reassembled within the core and mantle of planets such as ours. Immediately these r -process elements are cast into the cosmos along with dust and gas. ![]() Production of r -process elements occurs within seconds of a neutron star’s final death throes. Within the atomic furnace of these rare events, heavy r-process elements are forged, including gold and platinum, from highly condensed matter weighing in at ten million tons per teaspoon. In fact, so elusive that its earthly genesis had remained a mystery until August 2017, when astrophysicists officially determined what many had already theorized: Gold forms in our universe during the aftermath of neutron star collisions. ![]()
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