The name gold is from its Latin name aurum . This element has been known since prehistoric times.
Gold is an inactive metal and it occurs mostly in the uncombined state.
It is a soft, malleable metal. It is sometimes found as gold telluride. Because of its high density, metallic gold can be concentrated by panning . Gold is also recovered from the anode sludge from electrolytic purification of copper . Another method of recovering gold from ores is to form a gold amalgam from which the gold is separated by distilling off the mercury .