Gold

999 gold is considered the best purity of gold readily available, and is described as being 24 carat. This refers to purity in parts per 1,000 – known as fineness – meaning 999 parts are gold. Pure gold is soft and malleable, making it impractical for many applications. When used …

What is 9 carat gold? Commonly found in jewellery, 9 carat gold is an alloy containing 37.5% pure gold, while the rest is made up of another metal or metals. Typically, 9 carat gold will be made of 37.5% gold, 42.5% silver and 20% copper. However, it is also possible …

With gold coins no longer being used in circulating currency, instead serving as collectable items or investment assets, the competitive nature of humans has unsurprisingly spilled into the domain of mints and refiners. The pursuit of making the biggest gold coins is an expensive one, but a few mints have …

The Grasberg mine, located in Indonesia, is the biggest gold mine in the world. It is also the second largest copper mine in the world; the ore mined at Grasberg produces relatively high grades of both metals. Copper is the primary commodity, with 2.8 billion tonnes of provable copper deposits …

The Bretton Woods agreement was a new monetary system created by world leaders after World War II. It changed the global economic outlook and financial system for much of the 20th century, shaping the modern world. Following the Second World War, the Bretton Woods Resort – more commonly referred to …

The California gold rush took place between 1848, and the late 1850s. The discovery of easily accessible gold deposits saw huge numbers of people flock to California, in an attempt to strike it rich. It is estimated that, over the course of the gold rush, 300,000 people relocated to California …

The Maple Leaf is the national symbol of Canada, appearing on its flag and it is only natural that it should feature on the official bullion coin issued by the Canadian government every year. The Canadian Maple Leaf is produced by the Royal Canadian Mint and issued annually by the …

With a density of 19.32 grams per cubic centimetre, gold is one of the densest metals on Earth. This is just one of the reasons gold is so desirable to humans is its high density. The density of gold is sensational to experience. Anyone that has held physical gold in …

Pure gold is a noble precious metal, and the least reactive of all metals. Gold does not rust, nor will it tarnish. However, because almost all gold manufactured items are not 100% pure they can potentially rust and tarnish over time. Pure gold is extremely malleable, and as such manufacturers …

Iron Pyrite, also known as fool’s gold, is a sulphide mineral that has gained infamy throughout history for its resemblance to gold. With a brass-yellow hue, Pyrite has fooled many a prospector into believing they had found their fortune, only to later realise their mistake. The deceptive appearance garnered the …

Fort Knox, officially titled “The United States Bullion Depository”, stores much of the United States’ gold reserves. It is part of the US Mint, and thought to hold 2.3% of all the gold ever refined in the world. US Mint figures for January 2018 put the total gold held in …

Gold measurement could refer to two different aspects of an item; purity and weight. Both are vital measurements in working out what a gold item is worth, with the physical size being less accurate as an indicator. The weight of gold is most commonly measured in a unit known as …

With a rich and diverse mining history, Australia was ranked third in the world among gold producing nations as of 2020 falling slightly behind Russia and China. Australia mines just over 300 tonnes annually, and is believed to have massive reserves of 9,500 tonnes of gold still underground. Australia's iron …

Gold and interest rates traditionally have a negative correlation in the relationship between the two. It is not guaranteed but usually the gold price goes up when interest rates go down, and down when rates go up. This is because rising interest rates make stocks, government bonds and other investments …

Understanding gold purity is essential for getting an accurate valuation of an item. In most cases the purity of a gold item should be hallmarked or indicated in some other way, but below we discuss how gold purity is denoted, and some of the common figures you should see. Pure …

The gold rushes of Australia began officially in 1851, and would continue for decades as more gold deposits were discovered. Unlike the California gold rush or Klondike gold rush, the gold rushes in Australia covered a huge amount of land across the entire country, though specific locations like Victoria and …

When it comes to comparing prices, sizes, or calculating the premium, it is important for investors to understand exactly how much gold they have. A common cause of confusion in this regard takes place with gold coins, which are most commonly minted and quoted in ounces. How many grams are …

Until we have mined all the gold underground, collected everyone’s jewellery, every gold tooth, coin, bar and more we won’t be sure exactly how much gold there is in the world. Even then, we wouldn’t have accounted for all the gold in the sea, or inside our very own bodies. …

It is difficult to give an exact value for a ton of pure gold, but a current, and very approximate, figure would be €56,089,940. An exact price is difficult to give because the price of the yellow metal, usually quoted in troy ounces, is constantly changing. Plus, to further complicate …

For as long as gold has been part of human culture it has been valuable and highly sought after, and as such there have always been those who have tried to make it themselves through counterfeiting. To avoid the risk of spending your money on something that is not real, …

At it's simplest, gold is not magnetic. As if often the case however, the answer is somewhat more complicated than it may first appear. Scientifically, gold is classed as diamagnetic, or magnetically inert. This means that it will not be attracted by a magnet, and cannot be turned into a …

The ultimate goal of any investment is to eventually sell and, hopefully, make some money. Gold and silver can differ slightly from this, insofar as they are typically used as a hedge or insurance against other markets crashing (check out the reasons to buy gold). Some investors do however buy …

The first thing to make clear is that, no, owning gold is not illegal, and in the EU it has been legal for many decades! Customers can rest assured that the products we sell at BullionByPost are entirely legal. Is it legal to own gold? In the EU, investors are …

Buying gold online for the first time can be quite a daunting prospect. Sending money to somebody you don’t know in good faith that they will send you your gold or silver in return is understandably a nerve-wracking experience. That is why we make transparency and customer service our absolute …

The Klondike gold rush (also known as the Yukon gold rush) was a period of huge migration as prospectors flooded into the Klondike region of Yukon, Canada, between 1896 and 1899. It is estimated that 100,000 people set out for the Klondike region in the hope of finding their fortunes; …

Working out the largest consumer of gold in the world is not a simple task. It can be measured in different ways, each of which produce different results. The general ranking for gold consumption has remained relatively stable in recent years, with only a few countries increasing or decreasing their …

The London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) was founded in 1987 by the market’s regulator at the time, the Bank of England. It is the trade association for the ‘over the counter’ gold and silver market in London.The association is responsible for the regulation of such areas as refining standards, trading …

The melting point of gold - 1,064 degrees Celsius - is one of the many properties that make it a unique, desirable, and versatile metal. Below we discuss the various key numbers related to the melting point of gold, as well as the implications of them. What is the melting …

The Royal Mint is the organisation responsible for the production of British coins and is the official manufacturer of all coins in the United Kingdom. It has been in operation for more than a millennium, since it opened as the London Mint in the year 886 AD, and also produces …

The discovery of one of the world’s biggest gold nuggets always sends shockwaves of excitement throughout the mining world, but it entices the general public too. The idea of finding a lump of the dense precious metal is the dream of many prospectors. The weight, the unique shine and – …

Gold’s historical allure is well known. Throughout the ages, civilisations have venerated the precious yellow metal, coveting its lustre and value. The idea of gold jewellery or coins is well established, but gold is also used in other ways - some that might surprise you! Owing to five distinctive properties, …

What is a Gold Ingot? Although the word is probably used much more loosely, an ingot is technically a specific type of gold bar. The word refers to the specific process by which these bars are manufactured - they are produced by pouring molten gold into a mould. The word …

What is a troy ounce? When looking to invest in precious metals you may well have noticed the common use of the term ‘troy ounce’, to weigh gold bars and as a unit of reference for the gold spot price. A troy ounce is an imperial unit of measure. It …

In simple terms, the term 'bullion' refers to gold, silver and other precious metals in the form of bars, ingots, and coins. It is the form in which precious metals are traded on the commodity markets. The origins of the word are unclear, although there is general agreement over the …

We all know what it is. Gold. We all know that it’s a rare, pretty, and expensive metal. For thousands of years the human race has valued it highly and worked hard to obtain it. But what is it actually used for? The most obvious answer is, of course, jewellery. …

The chemical symbol for gold is Au, taken from the Latin word for gold- Aurum. Its atomic number is 79, meaning that an atom of gold contains 79 protons. Despite being very dense, gold is more malleable than all other metals and it’s possible to beat a single ounce of …

Origins of Gold There’s something about gold that we find irresistible. This soft, shiny metal has formed an integral part of our monetary system for thousands of years, as well as having a huge importance in jewellery and, more recently, playing an important role in medicine and everyday technology. The …

The World Gold Council is the market development organisation for the international gold industry. Made up of a number of the world’s eighteen largest gold mining companies including Barrick, China Gold, Newmont Mining Corporation and Silver Wheaton, the World Gold Council works with its members’ combined expertise to further gold’s …