Why is gold so valuable?
By Jerry Burnell Dec 1, 2003, 09:15 Jerry Burnell QUESTION: Why is gold as valuable as it is? Why isn’t sodium or tin as valuable? ANSWER: Gold is one of three precious metals, the others being Platinum and to a lesser extent silver. The main reason for their value is that they are rare. You can put all the gold ever found in a cube less than 150 feet. Not very big by today’s standards. In a good gold mine, you have to move and refine ten tons of dirt or rock for each ounce of gold recovered. There are not many good gold mines in the world either. The second property of a precious metal is that it has to be impervious to the elements. In other words it cannot rust, corrode, or be degradable by other elements. Gold is so inert that it is sometimes found in nature in the natural metal state in the form of nuggets. This allowed people in ancient times to take the natural nuggets and pound them together to form metal objects. Gold does not oxidize or corrode, so its shape will remain a tho
