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Where to Find Gold
Gold was originally found in deposits in the United States in the 1970’s, in the southern Appalachian area. The deposits in the area were very rich but were not very big and quickly became depleted. The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) initiated on January 24, 1848, when gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill. James Marshall’s discovery of a nugget that was the size of a dime in the tailrace of Sutter’s Mill started this frenzy. A man named Sam Brannan was the one that announced that gold had been found in the American River and showed a bottle full of gold nuggets. James Marshall found a gold nugget that had the size of a dime in the tailrace of Sutter’s Mill. This is when the gold rush of the 49’ers started and as a result the production of gold increased a great amount. The Mother Lode and the Grass Valley mines in California as well as the Comstock Lode in Nevada were all discovered in the 1860’s, and then the Cripple Creek deposits in Colorado were discovered in 1892. The Tonopah and Goldfield deposits were discovered in 1905 in Nevada and the Alaska placer deposits were also discovered. This was the time when the production of gold increased to over four million ounces in a single year and this amount continued steady until 1917. Throughout the 1st World War and even some years beyond it, the yearly production of gold decreased and was at around two million ounces per year. At the time when the price of the gold was increased to $35 an ounce in 1934, the production rose very quickly and once again went past four million ounces per year. A little while after World War II, all the gold mines were closed down and were not allowed to open by orders of the government until 1945. The biggest producing gold mine in the United States is located in the HomeStake Mine at Lead in South Dakota. The HomeStake deposit was discovered by Moses Manuel and Hank Harney in April 1876. This mine was more than a mile in depth and the hot bearing solutions formed primary gold deposits as well as sulphide materials. The Carlin Mine that is located close to Carlin, Nevada opened in 1965 and is one of the largest discoveries. This deposit is estimated to have contained $120 million worth in gold. over one third of the gold that has been produced in the United States is a byproduct of other mineral ores. There are other base metals such as lead, copper and zinc that are deposited in veins or in mineral grains and small amounts of gold has been found along with these. These types of deposits are mined for the main metals, however gold has been found lodged in them and is in addition recovered. Certain base metal deposits, like those of disseminated or porphyry copper deposits, are very big in size and even though they do not contain a great quantity of gold, per ton of copper ore, the amount that is mined of other primary mineral is so much that a good amount of gold is recovered as well. |
