Gold mining is something that’s been done for thousands of years and the methods used are quite diverse. One can mine for gold just by using hands but it’s also done with special methods, with chemicals and special machines.

Most people think of pans and separating the gold metal from the water and sand when they think of gold mining. The one thing that makes gold panning possible is the weight of the gold, which is bigger than that of gravel or sand. The use of pans to find the gold in rivers has its roots in the 19th century, when miners looked for gold during the Gold Rush of California.

Another method used was the creation of artificial channels, which conducted the water through it. It had a gate or a valve, so the flow was regulated. In this sluice box, there were dead zone which allowed the deposits of gold to appear. In other cases, dams were built, which allowed people to mine the bottom of the river. When gold mining is done on bigger scale, one could use bulldozers and excavators in these channels.

In some cases gold is found inside the rock, not as loose particles. In this case the mining is taken underground and the techniques which are used are more complex than mining for salt or coal. There are shafts and tunnels and in general this is an expensive proposition. While panning is quite cheap to get started with, gold mining is usually something done by states and large companies. The deepest gold mine right now is in Africa, it’s called Savuka and it has a depth of over 3.9 km. The majority of the gold produced today comes from hard rock mining operations.

The gold mining can extract this precious metal from ore which is low-grade by using chemicals, called cyanide.