Gold mining is vital to the fragile economies of many developing countries, which account for roughly two-thirds of global gold production. In addition to generating export revenue in these countries, gold production provides royalty and tax income to their governments, technology transfer, worker training and the creation of a skilled workforce.

Gold mining can also bring substantial improvements in physical, social, legal and financial infrastructure. In many of these countries, gold mining is a foundation industry that often provides the critical mass for the development of electricity, water, road and rail transport in a region, that are the essential foundations of an economy.

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There are some electronic components that quite simply have to be made from gold because of its unique combination of properties. Gold has excellent thermal and electrical conductivity, so it makes efficient wires and contacts in electronics, transporting electrical signals efficiently and conducting heat away from critical components. With its high corrosion resistance, the gold found in electronic contacts remains free from tarnish or oxidation. This ensures that reliable electrical connections can be made, even after thousands of operations.

This stems back to ancient times in the Mediterranean /Middle East, when a carat became used as a measure of the purity of gold alloys (see next Question 5). The purity of gold is now measured also in terms if fineness, i.e parts per thousand. Thus 18 carats is 18/24th of 1000 parts = 750 fineness.

Wearing gold not only enhances strong emotional feelings for its wearer but also completes a woman's appearance - it makes women feel indulgent, beautiful, successful, confident and sexy. Women who wear gold jewellery consider it to be an integral part of their appearance, and consider it as a necessary item rather than just an accessory. There are also traditional reasons for wearing gold, such as for marriage, religion, and family gifting.

Gold also has a lasting financial value, which supports consumers' decision when buying gold jewellery, and can often be the reason why women prefer gold to other jewellery or luxury products.

People around the world invest in gold for many different reasons. Many people view gold as a reliable source of value in times of trouble. Gold offers insurance against stock market failure and has proved to be a liquid, transportable asset for refugees needing to flee their countries.

More and more people understand that by investing in gold, they are protecting themselves against a range of risks, such as weakness of the US dollar; unexpected inflation; and low returns on other assets. Some people simply want to own as asset they can trust, because it is real and holds its value over the long term.

If we take national gold reserves, then most gold is owned by the USA followed by Germany and the IMF. If we include jewellery ownership, then India is the largest repository of gold in terms of total gold within the national boundaries. In terms of personal ownership, it is not known who owns the most, but is possibly a member of a ruling royal family in the East.

Gold is mined on every continent, barring Antarctica. For more details, please see Mine Production.

The word gold appears to be derived from the Indo-European root 'yellow', reflecting one of the most obvious properties of gold. This is reflected in the similarities of the word gold in various languages: Gold (English), Gold(German), Guld (Danish), Gulden (Dutch), Goud (Afrikaans), Gull (Norwegian) and Kulta (Finnish).

The price quoted on our website is updated every minute and is provided by TheBullionDesk. The Price feed is a composite feed that will always show the latest bid and ask price. The composite feed is formed by pooling prices from a collection of price contributors and therefore should not be construed as a tradable price.

The gold spot price, quoted in US dollars per troy ounce, is updated every minute on our website. You can also view charts or download the daily gold price in a range of currencies in our Statistics area.

Futures prices are quoted on NYMEX, CBOT and TOCOM.

All the bullion banks trade in gold options. However, this route would require you to have an account as a private banking client. Opening up a private bank account requires the bank to fulfil a thorough due diligence process that may take some time. A list of bullion banks is available from the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA). A second way of trading options is through the COMEX Division of the New York Mercantile Exchange but non-US residents should check with their financial advisors and the local regulatory body regarding the position with respect to trading by way of a foreign exchange. The third route that you could explore would be to contact a futures broker and ask what is available. Certain spread-betting companies trade gold options, for example. Please note that this information is provided for your convenience only and should not be regarded as investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell gold options or futures. You should seek advice from a qualified financial advisor who should take your personal financial situation into account.

Until recently the earliest known gold jewellery was believed to date from the Sumer civilisation, which inhabited what is now southern Iraq around 3000 BC. Recent discoveries suggest however that goldsmithing first began on the shores of the Black Sea, in the land that is today Bulgaria (for more information Jewellery History ).

Articles displaying various techniques such as repousse, chain- making, alloying and casting have been found in ancient Egyptian tombs, with the best known examples coming from the treasures of King Tutankhamun who died in 1352 BC. The Minoans on Crete produced the first known cable chain, still very popular today, and the Etruscans in Italy had developed granulation, whereby items are decorated with tiny granules of gold, by the 7th century BC.

Regression and correlation analysis suggest there is no relationship between changes in US GDP growth and changes in the gold price. Consequently, a US recession would not have negative implications for the gold price. This reflects the unique drivers of the gold price and underpins gold’s role as a diversifying asset. The only element of demand likely to be affected by a recession is investment demand, but that in turn will depend on the “type” of recession. So far, the brewing US recession has been positive for the gold price, as it has been accompanied by a rise in inflation and a falling dollar, which has boosted demand for gold as a dollar and inflation hedge. For a full discussion, see What does the US recession imply for the gold price?, by Natalie Dempster, at www.gold.org.

Although very large investors can lend their gold out and receive a “gold” interest rate, in practice this yield is very low. So the main return on gold is capital gain or loss which is realised by selling some gold. This is no different from many other assets, including, for example, zero coupon bonds.

Almost all electronic consumer items like mobile phones, computers, and flat screen televisions contain a small amount of gold, which is critical to the reliable and efficient functioning of the equipment. The chips and contacts found in a car’s ABS system all contain gold, as does the electronics controlling the inflation of car airbags in the event of a crash.

Smoke detectors, routinely used in millions of households to protect against fire, contain a gold alloy placed between layers of another metal. Gold is used in brazing alloys used to join certain components in aero engines and in some medical implants gold is the metal of choice. It’s fair to say that without the use of gold in all these products, they would be much less efficient and reliable than they are now.

Gold production is increasingly shifting to developing countries. If South Africa, whose production is on a long-term declining trend, is excluded, their output rose by more than 50% over the past decade. In contrast output from developed countries has fallen.

As a result of these trends, developing countries (including South Africa) accounted for 72% of global output in 2004. Most of this came from low-income or lower-middle-income countries which together accounted for two thirds of global output.

The strongest rise in output has been seen in Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCs) whose gold production rose by 84% between 1994 and 2004. Of the 38 HIPC countries, 14 are significant gold producers with lesser or minor production in at least a further 14 countries. There is potential for substantial additional production in several cases.

The rise in HIPCs' output has been paralleled by rising export dependence on gold. In 2003 gold accounted for 13% of goods (merchandise) exports of the 14 significant producers and 10% of their exports of goods and services. It accounted for nearly 8% of goods exports and over 6% of exports of goods and services for HIPCs as a whole. It is one of the most important exports for HIPCs as a group.

Gold is the leading export for Mali (59% of goods exports in 2003), Tanzania (44%), Ghana (32%), Guyana (26%) and the second most important for Guinea (23%).

Around 70% of gold demand is jewellery, 11% is industrial (dental, electronics) and 13% is investment (institutional and individual, bars & coins). Gold jewellery has strong "investment" attributes in all countries, and in markets such as India and Middle East is sold by weight at the prevailing daily rate with a supplementary "making charge" which varies according to the complexity of the piece. Jewellery is not used as currency in any market. I hope this answers your question: for further details see our website where you can subscribe to access further demand data and commentary.

Each country has its own set of legislation governing mining, and issues that are related to mining such as resettlement, water, air, biodiversity and so on. The nature and extent of this legislation has to be assessed on a country-by-country basis. Globally, growing awareness of environmental issues is being translated into increasingly stringent requirements being placed on mining companies.

International law is that which is defined through various multi-party conventions like the Kyoto Protocol, Convention on Biological Diversity, etc. which countries sign-up to and intact through national legislation. There are of course international bodies which, through contractual agreements, encourage and enforce global standards such as the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) Performance Standards. NGO’s are playing an increasingly active role in defining what can best be described as ‘soft law’.

By developing and promoting and participating voluntary initiatives, such as Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance, the Voluntary Principles on Human Rights, and Global Reporting Initiative, multi-stakeholder approaches are being developed to guide the various role players globally.

The spot price quoted on our website is the US dollar price of one fine troy ounce of gold , deliverable in London in a form that conforms to London trading standards.