As of January 9: “The total value of #gold held by foreign official institutions is now approaching $4 trillion, exceeding roughly $3.9 trillion in U.S. Treasury holdings for the first time since 1996.” but mostly because gold is now US$4500 per “ounce”. No mention of cryptocurrencies. #finance #news
on 02026-04-03Archive of #news “https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2025/06/26/the-gold-bull-market-has-a-dirty-secret”, “The gold bull-market has a dirty secret: Gold is now better business than drugs for many gangs” with US$4.8 billion a year of illegal gold (mostly from illegal mining) exported from #Perú. #gold #crime
on 02025-11-11#PDF explaining the “best available techniques” (“BAT”, some #EU term of art) for heap-leach #mining, by Caner Zanbak, November 02012. Apparently by that point they were using heap leaching not just for #gold but also for #copper and #nickel. It explains the heap clogging problem: “In addition to lixiviant consumption, pre-precipitation products of some of these gangue minerals (gypsum, jarosite, silica) have potential negative effects on leach permeability by plugging up of the pores in the heaps.” Explains that basically only cyanide and sulfuric acid leaching is currently used, despite thiosulfate and thiourea experiments. “Heap Leaching: is a technique where run-of-mine or crushed (generally >5 mm) and/or agglomerated ores are stacked over an engineered impermable pad.”
on 02025-09-11