How is Gold Mined?

There are four different ways to mine gold. There are four different methods of gold mining: placer mining, hardrock mining, byproduct extraction and processing.

The methods used to extract gold from each category are unique.

gold mine

gold mine

Placer mining involves metal-detecting, panning and other methods such as sluicing. It is a popular gold-mining category among amateurs, who use gravity and water in order to separate dense gold from other material.

The process of hard rock mining involves using underground or open-pit mining tunnels in order to extract the gold. Most of the gold in the world is mined using this method.

Hard rock mining and byproduct mining are similar in the sense that they both use open-pit or underground tunnel mining. Gold is found as a byproduct in the mining process. Byproduct mining is profitable because of the large quantities Gold that are found in mining operations. This type of mining is evident in the Grasberg Mine, located in Papua (Indonesia), which was originally developed to remove copper from the ground. This mine is the most productive mine in the world, even though Gold isn’t its primary product.

Processing gold ore is the final type of gold mining. The method of gold mining is becoming less popular as it is associated with low yields of Gold and high costs and environmental impacts. Gold ore, also known as finely ground rock or soil containing traces of Gold is extracted by a chemical method. Cyanide is the most common chemical used in this process.