The total quantity of gold that is available for mining has increased with the latest discovery by Australian scientists. Scientists in Australia claim to have discovered for the first time traces of nanoparticles of gold, too tiny to see with the naked eye, in nature.
Until now, nanoparticles of gold too small to be seen with the naked eye have been created in laboratories.
Gold nanoparticles
But, now an Australian team, led by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), found hard evidence that gold nanoparticles have finally been seen in the natural world.
“In the southern areas of the state, groundwater is very salty and acidic. "This water dissolves primary gold and re-deposits it as pure gold crystals on fracture surfaces and in open pore spaces.
Dark band
“On investigation of these crystals, there appeared to be a dark band across them. However high magnification imaging showed the band was in fact, a mass of gold nanoparticles and nanoplates.
“These are identical to those being manufactured in laboratories around the world for their unique properties,” lead scientist Dr Rob Hough said. Clays from the fracture surface were then analysed.
There was no gold visible, but analysis showed the clays contained up to 59 parts-per-million of gold.
The research team concluded that the nanoparticles of gold they had imaged represented the “invisible” gold in the clay, and that this nanosised gold was actually common in similar environments.
Effectively invisible
“The gold nanoparticles have not been identified earlier because they are transparent to electron beams and effectively invisible.
“However, they are probably a common form of gold in this type of natural environment worldwide, where saline water interacts with gold deposits.
"They also provide the first direct observation of the nanoscale mobility of gold during weathering,” Dr Hough said.
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