Gold mining involves the extraction of gold either via conventional mining or via placer mining, as it is a soft metal, gold is relatively easy to separate from its surrounding. Global gold production is estimated at approximately 4,000–5,000 metric tons per year, with the majority coming from newly mined sources. Historically, gold mining from alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. The expansion of gold mining to ores that are below the surface has led to more complex extraction processes such as large scale pit mining and chemical extraction processes such as gold cyanidation. The history of gold mining dates to at least 4700 BC, with gold being an important metal mined in pre-history and early civilizations around the world. In empires like Rome and Egypt, gold mining would be a source of wealth and power for governments. Gold rushes have been driving forces of migration and industrialization in many parts of the world, starting in the middle ages in parts of Europe, and played an important role in waves of colonization in the Americas. 19th Century Gold rushes to California, the Klondike, South Africa and Australia all led to large migrations of speculators.
In the 20th and 21st centuries, large corporations produce the vast majority of the gold mined. As a result of the increasing value of gold, there are also millions of small, artisanal miners in many parts of the Global South. As with all mining, human rights and environmental issues are important issues in the gold mining industry, and can result in environmental conflict. In mines with less regulation such as smaller artisinal mines, health and safety risks are much higher, disproportionally affecting people operating in poorer geographies.
History
The exact date when humans first began to mine gold is unknown, but some of the oldest known gold artifacts have been found in the Varna Necropolis in Bulgaria. The graves of the necropolis were built between 4700 and 4200 BC, indicating that gold mining could be over 6,700 years old. During a series of excavations carried out between 1878 and 1992, several graves were found with more than 6 kg (13 lb) of gold. A group of German and Georgian archaeologists claims the Sakdrisi site in southern Georgia, dating to the 3rd or 4th millennium BC, may be the world's oldest known gold mine.
Ancient times
Prehistoric period
Gold has been prized by most human cultures since prehistoric times. Archaeological evidence suggests that humans were mining gold as far back as 4000 BCE, with some of the earliest known gold artifacts dating back to ancient Mesopotamia. Particularly in the region of present-day Iraq, gold was mined extensively. Around 2500 BCE, the ancient Sumerians developed sophisticated techniques for extracting gold from alluvial deposits and underground mines. These techniques included the use of sluice boxes.
Ancient Egypt Evidence suggests that Nubia had sporadic access to gold nuggets during the Neolithic and Prehistoric periods. Gold mining in Egypt involved both surface mining, such as panning for gold in riverbeds, and underground mining, where tunnels were dug to extract gold-bearing quartz veins. During the Bronze Age, sites in the Eastern Desert became a great source of gold for nomadic Nubians, who used two-handed mallets and grinding ore extraction. By the Old Kingdom, the oval mallet was introduced for mining. By the Middle Kingdom, stone mortars to process ores and a new gold-washing technique were introduced. During the New Kingdom, Nubian mining expanded under Egyptian occupation with the invention of the grinding mill. Ancient Egypt may have used gold mining as a form of punishment following a judgment for breach of order, thus condemning slaves to endure this task indefinitely until they were exhausted and died. Gold was associated with the sun god Ra and was believed to be eternal and indestructible, symbolising the pharaoh's divine power and afterlife. Gold has also been found in the tombs of Tutankhamun and other pharaohs.
Ancient Rome and Greece
During the Bronze Age, gold objects were also plentiful, especially in Ireland and Spain. Romans employed slave labour and used hydraulic mining methods, such as hushing and ground sluicing on a large scale to extract gold from extensive alluvial (loose sediment) deposits, such as those at Las Medulas. Mining was under the control of the state, but the mines may have been leased to civilian contractors later. Gold served as the primary medium of exchange within the empire, and was an important motive for the Roman conquest of Britain by Claudius in the first century AD, although there is only one known Roman gold mine at Dolaucothi in west Wales. Gold was a prime motivation for the campaign in Dacia when the Romans invaded Transylvania in what is now modern Romania in the second century AD. The legions were led by the emperor Trajan, and their exploits are shown on Trajan's Column in Rome and the several reproductions of the column elsewhere (such as the Victoria and Albert Museum in London). Under the Eastern Roman Empire during Emperor Justinian's rule, gold was mined in the Balkans, Anatolia, Armenia, Egypt, and Nubia.
Ancient Asia
In India, in the Kolar Gold Fields (KGF) in Bangarpet Taluk, Kolar district of Karnataka state, gold was first mined before the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE by digging small pits. Golden objects found in Harappa and Mohenjo-daro have been traced to Kolar through the analysis of impurities – the impurities include 11% silver concentration, found only in KGF ore. The Champion reef at the KGF was mined to a depth of 50 m (160 ft) during the Gupta period in the 5th century CE. During the Chola Empire in the 9th and 10th centuries CE, the scale of the operation grew. The metal continued to be mined by the 11th-century kings of South India, during the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1560, and later by Tipu Sultan, the defacto administrator Mysore state, and by the British. It is estimated that the total gold production in Karnataka to date is 1000 tons.
Ancient South America In South America, gold mining in the Andes dates back thousands of years, with the Inca empire employing extensive gold mining operations in regions such as present-day Peru and Ecuador. They used stone tools and simple mining techniques to extract gold from rivers, streams, and surface deposits.
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