What is gold dust?
Over the millions of years that glaciers were moving and grinding rocks apart, they also ground up any gold bearing minerals. The dust left behind that is actually gold is caled gold dust. It is basically the same looking as flour and is therefor often called flour gold. Even though gold dust is so fine it is still heavier than almost anything else in comparison so it will rest in a gold pan after panning off all of the other lighter material. It’s amazing that big rocks will flow right out of the gold pan while the black sand (iron oxides) and the gold dust will stay behind. By the way, the explanation Rock gave of placer gold isn’t quite right. Placer simply means gold that has moved over time, sometimes due to the movement of water as opposed to lode gold which is still in the rock/mineral it has been stuck in for millions of years. Placer mining is simply mining the gold that has been previously moved over time. It is often done by using moving water washed over soil that has been
When jewelers are working in their shops or labs while making or recreating the gold items, they need to refine and give the proper shape to the jewellery. During this process very little particles of gold are detached from the gold. These particles are usually collected carefully by the jewelers and are called the gold dust.
