Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-03-12
WHERE SHALL WE GET GOLD.

The supply is Threatened With Exhaustion
and There Seems to BE No Way to Renew 1t.
..HOW is THE WORLD GOING TO
IL get along when all the gold has been
exhausted?" said metailurgist to a STAR
writer. interrogatively. There is no Joke
about it. The gold production Of the world is
steadily decreasing from year to year and it
will not be very long before the supply il
practically used up. Not more than S1OO 900.
900 worth of the precious metal is now mined
annually and this is not nearly enough to meet
the requirements Of expanding commerce OF
course. new deposits viii be discovered from
time to time, but they will soon be e1-
hausted.
why is gold SO rare? Simply because it is
heavy. There are only two metals that are
heavier. namely, platinum and iridium. Re-
member that atthe beginning the earth was
body OF gas By gradual condensation it be-
came liquid. while now tine whole of its mass,
save only an outer crust, much thinner in pro-
portion to the whole bulk than is the shell of
egg would be fluid but for the fact that it is
held together by tremendous pressure.
Naturally, in the course of its forma-
ton about center Of attraction, the weightier
particles composing the globe gathered about
that center: Accordingly We find that the
water, while the rocks forming the crust are
only about two and one-half times as heavy "a
water.
From this it is evident that the materials
composing the globe near its center are very
heavy, and il lis to be presumed that they are
chiefly, If not wholly, weighty metals. Gold
and platinum being with oIly one known ex-
ceptlon. the heaviest metals existing, it seems
highly probable that enormous masses of these
precious substances are gathered about the cen.
ter OF the earth. What pity 1t il that such
colossal treasures should remain forever inac-
cessible to greedy mankind! At all events il
ID unfortunate that more gold is not to be dis
covered on the surface Of the planet because
no other metal is equally available for use "a
money.
HOW GOLD AND PLATINUM ARE FOUND AT TIE
SURFACE.
Zone naturally asks how ithas happened that
any gold and platinum are found on the sur
face Of the globe. The answer is very easy
Both Of these metals are always discovered
among rocks which have been upheaved by
volcanic or other causes out of the interior
Of the earth. Platinum. which has only been
found in abundance near the Ural noun
tains, comes from serpentfne, rock
thrown up from the depths. Gold occurs
chiefly in quartz veins. When the earth was
contracting, great cracks were formed. and
these we're filed from below by the action of
onartl 6ccas;oroiiv th;S onar,y cnnt",ns .
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