Metal Gold - Some Interesting Data!
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As a metal, gold certainly outperforms many others. Not only does metal gold have very rare physical and chemical properties, but it also looks good!
With its various color shades, ranging from yellow-white to red-orange, it's an ideal material to make jewelry pieces for all fashions. Its great malleability makes it even more attractive from the jewelers' perspective. Just one ounce of metal gold can be stretched into a wire of 85 kilometers in length. Similarly, through the process of hammering, the same single ounce of gold can be thinned down so much, it'll cover an area of 10 square meters.
Little wonder, some very elaborate designs are produced by the goldsmiths.
The chemical symbol of gold is Au (Aurum, in Latin). Its specific gravity is 19.4 and it makes metal gold one of the heaviest known. It is chemically inactive (inert), hence its resistance to most substances. Because of the lack of reaction with the environment, it's one of the few metals that maintain their "original" appeal - luster and shine.
In its natural form, gold is present in either a metallic form as nuggets, or in combination with other minerals as the gold ore.
The former is almost a pure gold, bar some solid impurities (rock, minerals crystals, etc.), and requires very little processing to arrive at the pure state. The latter, is just the starting point of a long and complicated technology that ends with pouring the molten metal gold into the bar form.
Not surprisingly, the production costs differ significantly, making some operations economically unsustainable, when the market price for gold is low.
As with any precious commodity, gold's value is described through a set of stringent government-issued rules and regulations. In the USA, it is the National Gold and Silver Marking Act that governs the standard of purity of gold and its alloys for the jewelry industry. This act was updated in 1976 and actually strengthens the rules of purity tolerance, when marketing gold products. In effect, there's far less leeway for jewelry manufacturers, when stating the karat value of the finished products. The amendment also stipulates the minimum requirement for the gold products to be called "karat gold". It stands at 10 karat. The pure gold (99.5%) has 24 karat, although it's called 100% for practical reasons.
The karat system begins with 10 K (41.67%) through 14 K and 18 K right up to 24 K. Most of the jewelry production uses 14 K metal gold.
With the demand for metal gold growing at all times, it’s not surprising that new exploration methods and refining technologies are being developed all the time. This results in price stability on the gold exchanges. Although the demand tends to be relatively stable, especially in the absence of political uncertainties, the industry consumption of metal gold will keep the prices high. 
Scrap Gold
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