Postal Gold Blog – Everything About Gold

Gold is one of the most useful minerals mined today because of its unique properties.  It is durable, highly malleable and can withstand many extreme conditions.

Here are a few interesting facts about the use of gold in industry:

• Of all the gold that gets mined yearly, 10% is used for industrial purposes – about 400 tonnes of gold.  Most of this gold is used in Japan, followed closely by the USA.

• Gold is a good electrical and thermal conductor.  Because of this, it is found in almost all electronic devices, including mobile phones, washing machines and even pocket calculators.  The gold used in electronic devices is refined until it is nearly 100% pure, and it is then stretched into a thin wire that is one hundredth of a millimetre in diameter (gold is extremely malleable when pure).  The wire is then used to connect semi-conductors and circuits.

• Gold is crucial in the telecommunications industry.  The diaphragms of telephone mouthpieces contain gold, and it is also used to plate the contacts of phone jacks and connecting cords.

• Gold is also used extensively in aeronautics.  It is an excellent reflector and offers protection against light and infrared rays.  Because of this, pieces of space shuttles are covered with a gold coating in order to reflect radiation and keep the inside temperatures constant.  Astronaut’s helmets have a gold coating on the visors to protect their eyes and skin from solar radiation.  Gold is also used to lubricate parts inside space shuttles because it decreases friction.

• Gold nanoparticles have a wide variety of uses.  They improve solar cell efficiency, are used to make home pregnancy testing kits more effective, and much research is being done on their potential for use in the medical industry.

All in all, gold isn’t just used for pretty objects that adorn our bodies.  It is an extremely useful and practical metal, and much of society depends on it!  Since the amount of gold available for us to mine is dwindling, it is crucial to keep what gold we have in circulation, and recycle old gold.  This is why it is important to send old electronic devices to recycling centres, so that gold and other valuable parts can be re-used.  And if you’re strapped for cash and have scrap gold lying around (such as broken jewellery, gold coins or dental gold), it’s a good idea to send it in to Postal Gold – not only will you be doing a good deed, you’ll also be getting money for it!  Visit the Postal Gold website – Postalgold.com – to find out more about recycling old gold.

About fifty years ago, the first ATM appeared on the streets.  It’s now hard to imagine a time when it wasn’t quick and convenient to withdraw money from your bank account no matter what time of the day.  But while we may view trips to the ATM as a common part of our lives, people in Dubai do it a little bit differently… Everyone knows that Dubai is synonymous with ‘luxury shopping’, but at Galeries Lafayette in Dubai Mall they have taken it a step further, boasting an impressive gold ATM, or ‘Gold to Go Machine’, as they call it.

The concept is simple: If you have money on hand, simply pop it into the machine and about twenty seconds later you can be the proud owner of a package containing a 24-carat gold nugget manufactured at a Swiss bank.  The smallest nugget that can be bought weighs 2.5 grams, but purchases of up to 30 grams are common.  The gold prices are updated every ten minutes via the internet, and the Gold to Go machine is well guarded by security cameras.

Although this may sound like a one-of-a-kind machine, there are in fact around fifty others like it stationed in other prestigious venues around the world.  In Burj Khalifa, which is the tallest building in the world (and is also found in Dubai), there is a Gold to Go machine stationed at each entrance, as well as at the top of the building.

So: if you have money you desperately want to get rid of but don’t know how, why not take a trip to Dubai and turn it into gold?  However, if you have the opposite problem and want to turn your gold into money, feel free to send it to Postal Gold.  We don’t have a turn-gold-into-money ATM, but we do have a gold kit that you can order on our website, postalgold.com.  It will only take you a minute to fill in your details on the Postal Gold website, and you can have a free and insured postal gold kit sent to your home address.

For more details, visit Postal Gold’s website, postalgold.com.

Image by Wendy Harman

Up until now, around 150,000 tonnes of gold have been excavated from the earth.  It is estimated that we have 50,000 tonnes left available for mining.  However, it has also long been known that the world’s oceans contain about 6 million tonnes of gold dissolved in sea water.

Naturally, many entrepreneurs and scientists have tried to find ways to extract this gold, dreaming of fortunes untold.  One of the most notable of these was the German chemist Fritz Haber, who received a Nobel Prize in 1918 for developing a way to synthesise ammonia.  After the First World War, Germany was forced to pay an astronomical sum of money in reparations.  Haber decided to investigate the viability of extracting gold from sea water, hoping that it could be a way to help his country pay off these debts.

However, as Haber soon found out, one tonne of sea water contains only a minuscule amount of gold.  The amount varies in different locations, but it can be approximated that a litre of seawater contains 13 billionths of a gram of gold.  Extracting the gold from seawater would produce an amount of gold that would, if you were lucky, barely cover the costs of extracting it in the first place!  And this is provided that the method of extraction is 100% efficient, which is very difficult to ensure.  Haber decided after much experimentation and investigation that the extraction of gold from seawater was highly uneconomical.

However, Haber was not the last person to investigate this possibility.  Since his time, many others have tried to find ways to efficiently extract gold from the sea.  Methods proposed (and rejected) include everything from using mercury to form an amalgam with the gold, to introducing microbes that ‘breathe’ in gold and solidify it in their waste products.

Perhaps the future will see us with advanced technology that will make gold extraction a viable and economic option.  Until then, we will just have to stick with good old fashioned gold mines, as well as recycling old gold.  On that note – if you are looking for gold buyers to recycle your scrap gold, be sure to check out Postal Gold’s website.  Since we can’t yet make gold out of water, we might as well make sure that the gold that we already have stays in circulation!

Gold was enormously important in the Inca Empire.  It was not used as currency and had no monetary value.  Instead, gold was sought after for its religious value.  In Inca mythology, gold represented the sun, while silver represented the moon and copper represented the earth, all of which were worshipped as deities.  The Incas made an alloy of gold, copper and silver, which resulted in a metal that they called ‘tumbanga’.

Tumbanga melted at a lower temperature than that of gold or silver, was harder than copper and nearly as malleable as pure gold.  For that reason, tumbanga was the ideal metal for manufacturing all gold objects in the Inca Empire.

Objects made of tumbanga were used for funerals and other religious ceremonies.  At funerals, the deceased were decorated with masks, breastplates and headdresses made of gold.  Ceremonies often required sacrifices to the gods, and gold instruments were used for killing the  sacrificial animals.  Rattles, cups and sculptures made from tumbanga were also used in the ceremonies.  Inca craftsmen were highly creative and talented and made necklaces, bracelets, sandals and many other ornaments with tumbanga.  There were almost no limits to what the Inca craftsmen could produce with gold.  Women from families of high social status sometimes dressed from head to toe with plates of gold.

When a person died, the descendants did not inherit the gold.  Instead, all gold was buried with the deceased.  This is why the best collections of Inca gold have been found in tombs by archaeologists and treasure hunters.  Incas also used gold to decorate the walls and altars of their most important temples.

When the Spaniards discovered the Americas, they also discovered the large amounts of gold that the Incas had.  For them, gold had no religious value but was highly coveted for its monetary value.  While the colonisation of the Americas was violent enough, the opportunity to acquire gold made it even more so.

The Spaniards plundered the Inca temples, took sacred statues of deities and other religious objects and melted them to make gold coins.  They sent ships laden with tumbanga home to Spain.  But these ships were frequently attacked by pirates, who also wanted a piece of the treasure!  Since the ships were made of wood and were much more fragile than our modern ships, they were often sunk, either due to pirates or stormy weather on the seas.  This resulted in much of the Inca gold ending up on bottom of the ocean, where much of it still lies today!

Wouldn’t it be exciting to go deep-sea diving on a treasure hunt for ancient Inca gold?

A bacterium named Ralstonia Metallidurans seems to be able to transform dust into gold, according to an article in Science magazine from July 2006. This discovery was made by a team of Australian investigators who analysed gold grains from 2 gold mines situated at a distance of more than 3.000 km distance. They verified that 80% of those grains contained the microbe.

This bacteria absorbs heavy metals that can be found dissolved in the soil – these metals are toxic when present in high quantities – and it converts them in solid and less toxic forms.

Accordingly to Frank Reith, the person in charge of this investigation, the presence of this microbe in the grains of gold is due to the ability the organism has to detoxify the environment surrounding gold grains. This investigator also maintains that his discoveries are the strongest proof that microorganisms have a big contribution towards the formation of gold nuggets, although the exact mechanisms involved in these transformations are as yet unknown.  This theory has been questioned by several scientists who maintain that gold grains come from bigger forms or are a result of chemical processes.

To check out what to do with your old wedding ring visit Postal Gold.

There is a question which arises when people are getting divorced. A wedding ring is a symbol, which couples give to one another to show their love and commitment. So, what do you do with the ring? There is always the option to pass it onto your children, especially if the ring was passed down on to you – however, I´m not sure I´d want to hand on the reminder of a failed marriage to my children. There is the option to have the stones reset into a pair of earrings, or a bracelet (which maybe then you could hand onto your children) or even have it set into another ring, a sort of symbol of independence. You could throw it off a bridge or a boat – though if it is a family heirloom it might not be a good idea! Considering that divorce is costly nowadays, you could always sell it. There are a few options: you could do it online, on ebay, go to the jewellers or you could send it off to Postal Gold. Whichever option you chose, it would be a good idea to make sure it isn´t a hundred year old family heirloom passed down from generation to generation, just in case!

Just as with any registered post, when you send off your gold to postal gold, you will be able to track your packages progress at any time. When you log onto Postal Gold there is a small magnifying glass symbol which has Track Your Gold Kit written next to it. All you have to do is click on this symbol, and it will take you to a new window where the heading will be written again. You will be asked to fill out your Order ID and your Postcode. If you are not sure what your ID is, click on the information button beside the box to learn more. You then click on submit, and it is as easy as that!!

For more information check out Postal Gold.

A lot of people are worried about being ripped off these days, what with oil prices escalating (especially now with the BP oil spill), food prices soaring and daily living expenses sky rocketing. It is getting harder and harder to make ends meet, and people are constantly searching for other options in terms of income. There have been new companies popping up world-wide, and now with the price of gold higher than ever there are numerous businesses providing a service to post your scrap or old gold in for some extra cash, such as Postalgold. Some people fear that these companies are rip offs, and although some most certainly are – there are also some which aren´t. One can only advise to do your research, in both pawn shops and other companies such as postal gold and find the price which best suits you!

A review is a critical contemplation usually cited in the form of an article or report on a book, a play, a meal, or a service which has been provided; it is a critique; an evaluation. Companies are then able to use that information, to further improve whatever it is that they are providing, or trying to market. Receiving honest feedback like this can improve a company if they use the information wisely. A company such as Postal gold, can use their reviews to beat their competitors in the market and work on their services. When reviewing a company like Postalgold it is important to think about what service you wanted in the first place, what they promised you as a customer and if you received that service.

To see the postal gold logo check out http://www.postalgold.com

A logo is defined on dictionary.com as a graphic representation or symbol of a company name, trademark, abbreviation, often uniquely designed for ready recognition. Quite simply, it needs to grab peoples attention, and they need to remember it. Logos are such an important part of marketing and advertising, so important that more often than not they have the ability to define a company. Take for example the McDonalds golden arches, a Mercedes Benz logo, or the Mac´s Apple. These are easily recognised, and immediately people associate them with the company, the product or service they provide, and the standard or quality they can expect. A logo is something which should grab the viewers attention, and stay there. It is vital for the business, and once they establish the logo it is usually something which will not change – or if it does, minimally. A lot of thought goes into those logos you see everyday, and the companies are hoping you´ll remember them!