Eventually, scientists calculated that the Sun contains almost 2.5 trillion tons of gold, enough to fill Earth's oceans and more. Still, that's just eight atoms of gold for every trillion atoms of hydrogen — a tiny amount when compared to the mass of the Sun.
While nuclear fusion within the Sun makes many elements, the Sun cannot synthesize gold. The considerable energy required to make gold only occurs when stars explode in a supernova or when neutron stars collide.
The mass of the sun is 1.989 × 1030 kg. Abundance in the Sun of the elements gives a percentage 1 × 10-7 % for gold *, so that leaves you with a mass of 1.989 × 1021 kg of gold.
Unlike most rocky, icy asteroids, the Psyche asteroid—located between Mars and Jupiter—contains a motherlode of metal, including gold, iron, and nickel.
There are no naturally occurring processes that produce new gold… on Earth. The process by which gold is created takes place amongst the stars! Gold is formed when stars explode or collide, only then are the necessary energy and conditions right to create gold.
In Australia this concentration of gold took place in the Earth hundreds of millions of years ago in the eastern states, and thousands of millions of years ago in Western Australia. As well as gold, the fluids can carry other dissolved minerals, such as quartz. This is why gold is often found with quartz.
Gold is naturally occurring. When heated currents of fluid circulate under the Earth through rocks, it melts and picks up gold and other metals. Chemical differences in the fluids cause them to separate to a certain extent, creating concentrations in the form of lode deposits.
Witwatersrand accounts for roughly 30% of all the gold ever mined. Other major sources of gold include the extremely deep Mponeng mine in South Africa, the Super Pit and Newmont Boddington mines in Australia, Indonesia's Grasberg Mine, and mines in Nevada, US.
All of the gold that's deposited in our planet was formed during the explosions of stars and collisions of asteroids, and eventually found its way to earth over time. Today, gold is one of the most valuable precious metals and rarest natural minerals.
So we've estimated that within 4000m of the surface of Earth's crust there is 35 billion tons of gold. With a remaining 87 billion under the ocean. Only a small portion of that is concentrated enough to mine. Its a big world out there and we've only properly explored small pockets of it.
Gold is rare throughout the Universe because it's a relatively hefty atom, consisting of 79 protons and 118 neutrons. That makes it hard to produce, even in the incredible heat and pressure of the 'chemical forges' of supernovae, the deaths of giant stars responsible for creating most chemical elements.
24-karat gold is pure (while 100% purity is unattainable, this designation is permitted in commerce for 99.95% purity), 18-karat gold is 18 parts gold, 6 parts another metal (forming an alloy with 75% gold), 12-karat gold is 12 parts gold (12 parts another metal), and so forth.
So the next time you hold a piece of gold jewelry, look at the metal closely and think about the fact that it is older than life, older than Earth and the sun.
Nevertheless, on the whole, there is more gold in space than on Earth because space is simply exponentially bigger. In fact, gold is more “rare” in space when scaled to the size of the Earth. It is even considered rare when compared to other elements.
Satellite imaging has shown that the top 10 centimetres of regolith (moon soil) at the south pole of the moon appear to hold about 100 times more gold than the richest mines on earth. Only a few years ago, most geologists would have laughed at the idea of mining anything from our moon.
We all know gold is mined from the ground. But, have you ever wondered how it got there? Surprisingly, gold is most likely from outer space – formed in the hearts of dying stars and propelled across the galaxy by supernova explosions before crashing into primordial Earth almost 4 billion years ago.
Some of the veins produce up to one quarter of an ounce of gold per ton of rock. What makes Dahlonega gold so different from other gold found around the world is the purity. Dahlonega has the purest gold in the world, which is 98.7 percent pure.
Adding or removing protons from a nucleus are types of nuclear reactions. As such, no series of chemical reactions can ever create gold. Chemical reactions change the number and shape of the electrons in an atom but leave the nucleus of the atom unchanged.
Gold. Chrysopoeia, the artificial production of gold, is the symbolic goal of alchemy. Such transmutation is possible in particle accelerators or nuclear reactors, although the production cost is currently many times the market price of gold.
Today, Victoria's gold mines produce around 650,000 ounces of gold each year, or about 20 tonnes. For comparison, at the height of the first gold rush, some three million ounces or around 90 tonnes were produced in 1856.
Australia is estimated to have the world's largest gold reserves, with 9,500 tonnes or 17 per cent of the total world estimated gold reserves of 57,000 tonnes.
One study found there is only about one gram of gold for every 100 million metric tons of ocean water in the Atlantic and north Pacific. There is also (undissolved) gold in/on the seafloor. The ocean, however, is deep, meaning that gold deposits are a mile or two underwater.
About 244,000 metric tons of gold has been discovered to date (187,000 metric tons historically produced plus current underground reserves of 57,000 metric tons). Most of that gold has come from just three countries: China, Australia, and South Africa.
Even along highly active fault lines, it could take 100,000 years or more for minable deposits to form. So yes, gold deposits can replenish themselves. Unfortunately, it won't happen during our lifetime.
The reasons behind gold's enduring value include: Gold is perceived as a symbol of wealth, power, and majesty. Gold has had an exalted position throughout the ages as a highly coveted, even worshipped material. Gold has been used over millennia as jewelry and a means of exchange.