GOLD
Gold is a naturally occurring, precious metal that forms in the Earth’s crust. It usually appears in one of two main ways:
1. Primary (hard rock) gold – found in veins or rock fractures, often associated with quartz and sulfide minerals like pyrite (“fool’s gold”). It forms from hot, mineral-rich fluids that move through cracks in rocks and deposit gold as they cool.
2. Secondary (placer) gold – formed by weathering. Rocks containing primary gold break down over time, and gold, being heavy and resistant to corrosion, gets washed into rivers, where it settles in gravels and sands.
Gold is often associated with rocks like:
Quartz veins
Greenstone belts (ancient volcanic-sedimentary rocks)
Hydrothermal systems (linked to hot fluids deep in the Earth)
Geologically, gold can occur in different deposit types, like:
Orogenic gold deposits (classic gold veins in mountain belts)
Porphyry deposits (large, low-grade deposits often mined for copper and gold)
Epithermal deposits (shallow, hot-spring related gold)
Placer deposits (river or beach gold)
