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Gold is a yellow precious metal which is valued for its beauty
and purity since it does not oxidize or tarnish like most
other metals. It has been used for coins and jewelry for over
6000 years and from this has become regarded as a symbol of
wealth. Gold is very ductile and is the most malleable of
all metals. It can be cast into huge statues or beaten into
wafer thin sheets of gold leaf. This malleability makes it
too soft to be used in jewelry without being alloyed with
other metals.
Gold
metal can be found in rivers, seas and land in many parts
of the earth, but it is not easily extracted. Opening a mine
is a time-consuming and costly operation and several tons
of ore may are required in order to produce just one ounce
of the precious metal. Therefore, despite its universal nature,
gold remains a precious and rare commodity. In fact, it is
estimated that only slightly more than 100,000 tons of gold
have been taken from the earth during all of recorded history
- an amount that could be contained in a 19-yard cube! |
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