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This new discovering gold poster was featured at the 2011 Royal Easter Show. Everything you wanted to know about gold in NSW!
Citation preview
Discovering in NSWGOLD
New South Wales is host to a diverse range of gold deposit-types, with gold being produced
as either a principal commodity (e.g. Cadia, Cowal) or occurring in small amounts in many
other deposits (e.g. Broken Hill, Tritton). The majority of known deposits occur in the Lachlan
and New England orogens.
Recent discoveries have indicated that there is signifi cant potential for the discovery
of additional large to world class deposits in NSW. High-resolution aeromagnetic and
radiometric datasets acquired as part of New South Wales government-funded exploration
initiatives now cover over 80% of the state and will assist explorers to identify new targets.
The background to this map is a digital elevation model representing the topography (or
height) of NSW.
the Maitland Bar Nuggetthe Maitland Bar NuggetDid you know At 9.73 kg (just over 313 ounces) of gold, the
Maitland Bar nugget is the largest known remaining
nugget found in New South Wales during the period
1851 to 1890. It was forgotten about for 20 years
(from ~1936) until it was rediscovered during
an audit in April 1956. During the period it
disappeared it was in a Wells Fargo box that had
been used by Treasury Offi cers as the wicket for
impromptu cricket games.
Gold collectionGold collectionDid you know The Geological
Survey of New South Wales maintains a wide
range of scientifi c collections. These include
paleontological, thin section and economic
mineral collections. As part of the economic
mineral collection there are a
number of gold specimens,
nuggets and samples of
alluvial gold. The most
important of these
is the Maitland Bar
nugget.
Uses of gold Uses of gold Did you know
Gold has long been a medium of exchange and investment. It is widely used to
produce coins such as the Australian Nugget. Although Governments of most
countries include holdings of gold as part of their monetary reserves many are
starting to reduce their holdings. Financial institutions and individuals also use gold
as a store of wealth.
The main uses of gold are jewellery, dentistry, the adornment of buildings and for
artistic purposes. In jewellery, gold is often mixed with other metals to produce
alloys of diff erent colours. White gold is an alloy of gold with silver, palladium, nickel
and copper. Yellow, green and red golds are produced by alloying gold with copper
and silver in diff erent proportions. The gold content of jewellery is expressed as a
number of carats - pure gold is said to be 24 carat gold; 18 carat gold contains 18/24
or 75% pure gold.
High electrical conductivity, malleability and ductility favour the use of gold in
electronic and computer circuitry, radar equipment and satellites. Because of
gold’s heat refl ecting properties it was used as a fi lm coating on the Apollo 14
lunar module, the vehicle which fi rst landed man on the moon. An important and
growing use is in the mechanism and circuitry of safety air bags in motor vehicles.
Gold factsGold factsDid you know • In 2009-10, 26,000kg of gold was
produced in NSW, valued at $1.04
billion. (NSW Minerals Council)
• NSW is currently Australia’s second
largest gold producing state (NSW
Minerals Council)
• The discovery of gold in New South
Wales by Californian prospector
Edward Hargraves in 1851 at Ophir,
near Bathurst, is popularly regarded
as the start of the Australian gold
rushes. Earlier fi nds, notably by the
Reverend W.B. Clarke at Ophir in 1841
were suppressed by Governor George
Gipps, who was worried about their
potentially disruptive eff ects on convict
order.
Gold has played a key role in the history of
New South Wales and continues to make a
major contribution to the State’s economy.
Gold was fi rst discovered in New South Wales
in 1823 and since that time over 150 deposits
with more than 0.5 tonnes of gold and many
thousands of smaller occurrences have been
discovered in the State.
greater than 50 tonnes
10 to 50 tonnes gold
0.5 to 10 tonnes gold
less than 0.5 tonnes gold
map map guideguide