FACTS ABOUT GOLD.

Inangahua Times, Volume II, Issue II, 28 April 1880, Page 2

FACTS ABOUT GOLD.

«> In a recent lecture on gold Professor Egleston of the School of Mines of Colombia College, remarked tbat it was for^ merly supposed that gold was to be found only in or on the Ozo'c and Paleozoic formations.. When, in California, Whitney discovered' it in the- Jurassic, it was a revelation. It is now found in the deposits of all ages. The rock ia which it lies is generally metamorphic, and therefore it is the surroundings that indicate the period. By gold we mean a yfillow substance, which contains a quantity of pure gold mixed with other substances, of which silver is almost always one. It is common to consider the quantity of gold in the world to be large. But there is only seven thousand millions worth, which is about half pure gold and half silver. The annual pro* ductiin is about one hundred millions worth and the production has decreased 44 per cent, during tbe past thirty years. The production of silver, however, has increased 100 per cent, and now equals that of gold. One third of the gold goes to wear and tear, one third goes intocir* eulaticn and one third into the arts and manufactures. All the gold in the world would make a pile only 25ft wide, 45ft long and 25ft high.