Gold holds an important place in the history of mankind. It has traditionally been used as currency and for jewelry and demand for this precious metal is something that has led to the gold mining industry that exists today.
In the old days, gold was found in a process of manual labor than entailed working with a pick and shovel. This is the sort of work that was risky, dangerous, and there was a lot of uncertainty about profit. Hydraulic mining came to be in 1853 and changed the mining process. Lots of hydraulic mining camps were set up in California and mining became a widescale process involving lots of players and leaving behind significant environmental effects. Nowadays gold mining entails extraction from large open pit mines as well as those that are underground.
The two main types of gold deposits are lode (primary) deposits and placer (secondary) deposits. Lode gold is what most commercial mines are involved with these days and it is found in rock. Placer gold is what is found by panning for gold in flowing water.
Nowadays gold is used for a number of purposes including jewelry and medical uses, but also industrial and technological ones. Of course, it's also an investment tool. As production costs for gold mining increase, gold is tracked to remain a valuable asset. Geological science is very important in the mining process. Geologists are able to investigate the conditions of mineral deposits and evaluate if it is worthwhile to mine in the area. These scientists are educated professionals who still hold on to the thrill of prospecting.
If the gold mining industry today wants to be successful, new technology needs to be used to increase optimization of processes. Equipment monitoring systems are one way to make everything go much more smoothly.
Innovative Minerals is a company that understands how the future of gold mining depends on using technology. This project wants to use blockchain to make the mining process more efficient and offer investors new tools to invest at the same time. To find out more, go to www.innovative-minerals.com.
Sources: Thermo Fisher Scientific, California Department of Parks and Recreation, Gold Rush Nuggets, Geology.com, Scianmetrics