A tale of Fairmined gold, part VI
Throughout this journey, we have seen how gold is mined from the depths of the Earth, taken through several stages of crushing and processing, all the way to be smolten into a dore bar that can be refined to meet certain requirements.
Gold can have several uses, be it for jewelry making purposes, as a financial investment vehicle or for industrial uses. In order for it to become a commodity and a marketable product, it has to adhere to certain purity standards.
Fairalloy is a certified Fairmined supplier, only buying gold from a few artisanal and small-scale mining sources, making all their products 100% Fairmined gold and silver.
Andres Castellanos, Fairalloy CEO, explains:
"A gold dore bar undergoes a series of intricate steps to enhance its purity. Initially, the dore bar is melted and converted into gold grains to increase the overall surface area. These gold grains are then introduced into a reactor, where they undergo a wet chemical process known as aqua regia digestion. Within this procedure, gold dissolves into a liquid state, forming gold chloride, while silver undergoes a transformation into a sponge-like state referred to as silver chloride.
Andres Castellanos and his business partner Luis Romero, showing a glass flask containing their gold potassium cyanide.
Following the aqua regia digestion, the gold chloride liquid is meticulously filtered and transferred to another reaction vessel. In this vessel, specific chemicals are employed to induce precipitation, selectively solidifying only the gold from the liquid solution. After the precipitation process is completed, the result is pure gold in solid form. The obtained solid gold undergoes smelting, ultimately yielding gold with a purity level of 99.95%."
Fairalloy is also a pioneer in developing their gold potassium cyanide, a chemical compound used in gold plating solutions, produced with 100% traceable Fairmined certified gold.
And this is how gold mined from the Earth reaches the hands of jewelers to transform them into heirlooms we all treasure.
Thanks for reading along!
Photos: © Cecilia Echeverri
