Gold mining

Gold mining involves the extraction of gold either via conventional mining or via placer mining, as it is a soft metal, gold is relatively easy to separate from its surrounding. Global gold production is estimated at approximately 4,000–5,000 metric tons per year, with the majority coming from newly mined sources. Historically, gold mining from alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. The expansion of gold mining to ores that are below the surface has led to more complex extraction processes such as large scale pit mining and chemical extraction processes such as gold cyanidation.