Getting Gold Pure • Deila Taylor

I lived in gold country — the mother lode where gold was first discovered in California. I’ve learned something about gold and I’ve visited a couple of gold mines — in fact, one of them — the Sutter Gold Mine, no longer gives underground tours because they’ve started mining for gold again. I’m glad I got the tour before it closed. I’m fascinated with rocks and geology. Whenever I hike, I scan the ground for gleaming minerals.

I’m also intrigued with the symbolism of purifying gold. Malachi writes that the Lord is a refiner and purifier of metals:

He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, (Malachi 3)

Or there’s this one in Isaiah:

I will turn my hand against you; I will thoroughly purge away your dross and remove all your impurities. (Isaiah 1:25)

Most gold is engrained in rock, mixed with other minerals. Therefore, it’s quite a process to get pure gold. I’m amazed that mining became so popular, considering the amount of work involved. I read that during the California Gold Rush, Orrin Porter Rockwell came out to El Dorado and did a little panning for gold. But he decided he could make more money opening a saloon — selling whiskey to the miners.

Visible Gold

Gold Ore

Today companies use large machines called “crushers” to reduce the ore to small gravel-sized pieces. These pieces go into drums with steel balls where they are ground to a fine powder. Next, water is added to make a slurry which becomes a pulp. This pulp then goes into leaching tanks. Here the gold is chemically extracted with cyanide and oxygen. A very messy process.

Several steps more and it finally goes into the smelter at 2100 degrees F. That’s hot. But the gold isn’t pure yet. It still needs refining.

Refining is a process that takes the impurities out of gold making it valuable and functional. The unwanted elements are removed by, by melting the gold again with borax and soda ash, which is added to separate the pure gold from the lesser metals. This typically gives you a 99.9% pure gold which is cast into bars.

I sold some of my gold jewelry when I was pretty much broke.

The meaning of gold “karats.”

24 karats = 100 percent gold

22 karats = 91.75 percent gold

21 karats = 87.5 percent gold

18 karats = 75 percent gold

14 karats = 58.5 percent gold

12 karats = 50.25 percent gold

10 karats = 42 percent gold

9 karats = 37.8 percent gold

8 karats = 33.75 percent gold

Dross — the solid scum that floats to the top when smelting metals.

Dross is a solid mass of impurities floating on the top of melted metals. It’s considered rubbish in biblical terms:

Therefore, if ye do not remember to be charitable, ye are as dross, which the refiners do cast out, (it being of no worth) and is trodden under foot of men. (Alma 34:29)

Gold requires a lot of work before you can call it pure. And that goes for people as well — lots of refining is needed before you are purified.

Originally posted 2014, updated 2022.