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1. Properties
Gold was undoubtedly the first metal worked by man. As early as the Neolithic period, in the Middle East, it was used for decoration and jewelry. Its history is punctuated by plunder and suffering. The Achaemenid Persians plundered the treasure of Croesus seven centuries before our era, and their gold reserves were plundered in turn in the 4th century by Alexander the Great, who put huge quantities of gold on the market for the time. This facilitated trade and led to real economic prosperity. The Romans in turn plundered the Hellenistic kingdoms and mined the gold of Gaul, the Iberian Peninsula and Dacia. But the first discoveries of large quantities of gold date back to the 15th and 16th centuries, and are due to the destruction of the Amerindian empires by the Conquistadores. In the 18th century, gold rushes began in Brazil, in 1721 in...
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Properties
Gold economy
Economic data
1. Mining production
Table 1 gives production figures for the main producing countries, and table 2 summarizes production by country group. World production is clearly on the rise, despite...
Bibliography
References
International metallurgical and mining companies
Non-exhaustive list
AngloGold http://www.anglogold.com
Ashanti http://www.ashantigold.com
Avgold Ltd.
Gold companies in France
Non-exhaustive list
Engelhard – CLAL
Valme Industrie
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