Mild Mining Group

From the first discoveries of gold in ancient times, its beauty and the ease with which it could be worked inspired craftsmen to create it into ornaments, not just for adornment, but as symbols of wealth and power. The skills of the goldsmith from ancient Egypt to Benvenuto Cellini or Carl Faberge still amaze us. As Pindar wrote nearly 2,500 years ago, "Gold is the child of Zeus, neither moth nor rust devoureth it". Today, gold jewellery is more a mass- market product, although in many countries still treasured as a basic form of saving. jewellery fabrication is the crucial cornerstone of the gold market, annually consuming all gold that is newly mined.

 

Pure gold is used in those parts of the world where jewellery is purchased as much for in- vestment as it is for adornment, but it tends to be vulnerable to scratching. Elsewhere, it is usually mixed, or alloyed, with other metals. Not only do they harden it, but influence the colour; white shades are achieved by alloying gold with silver, nickel or palladium; red alloys contain mainly copper. A harder alloy is made by adding nickel or a tiny percentage of titanium.

 

The proportion of gold in jewellery is measured on the carat (or karat) scale. The word carat comes from the carob seed, which was originally used to balance scales in Oriental bazaars. Pure gold is designated 24 carat, which compares with the "fineness" by which bar gold is defined.