Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from Latin: aurum) and atomic number 79, making it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. In a pure form, it is a bright, slightly reddish yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. A relatively rare element, gold is a precious metal that has been used for coinage, jewelry, and other arts throughout recorded history. In the past two decades, gold prices have been relatively stable despite periods of economic uncertainty.
Gold is found in nature in both its native state and in compounds with other elements. Native gold occurs as very small to microscopic particles embedded in rock formations or combined with quartz or other minerals. Gold also occurs in alloys with silver and other metals. Alloys containing less than 24 karat gold are considered not real gold by many standards because they are too soft for most uses; 22 karat is about as low as jewelry gets before it is no longer practical to use for wearables.
The majority of mined gold today comes from secondary deposits where it has leached out of rocks over millions of years and accumulated at lower levels within the Earth's crust due to gravity separation. Because primary deposits are exhausted and much more difficult/expensive to mine today than secondary ones (which account for approximately two-thirds of annual global production), modern miners focus on extracting lower grade ore which still contains significant traces of its original precious metal content – typically between 3 and 10%.