Essay On Kalgoorlie Mine

Kalgoorlie Gold Mine

Preamble

The Kalgoorlie Mine, also known as the Super Pit due to its distinctive depth of 600m ( Figure 1.), is a mine situated in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia that primarily extracts gold. Often considered to be the largest open-cut mine in the nation, Kalgoorlie produces a tremendous 22 000 kilograms of gold each year. The gold rush that struck Australia during 1851-1914 was primarily a result of the discovery of many mining sites like the Kalgoorlie gold mine. The finding of the Kalgoorlie mine by Paddy Hannan, Thoman Flanagan and Daniel Sheal attracted several thousands of other prospectors (mineral explorers) and created a “ rush” to whoever would quickly become prosperous from mining gold in Kalgoorlie. As such,

Satellite mapping is an instrument that is almost always used to detect gold. Artificial satellites that are constructed by astronomers detect and collect electromagnetic radiation that escapes into space. Satellites directly reflect this, using a sensor, back to Earth. With this data, geophysicists will construct an image of where different minerals lie within the land. Precisely, they identify where rocks such are quartz are present- rocks that have higher chances of containing gold within them. Geochemists afterwards operate a device called a handheld X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF), which works in a very similar manner to the commonly seen bright neon lights, to conclude the identity of minerals in the land. Atoms (microscopic building blocks of all matter) consist of electrons that move around it in orbits- similar to how planets orbit the Sun. These orbits increase in the total energy of electrons as they move farther from the ‘nucleus’, or the centre of the atoms. Light beams inside this device replace these orbits so that some unique frequencies of energy are released. This contains unique frequencies ( measured in terahertz), which geologists use to find what minerals are present within a rock, as different elements have unique frequencies. For example, gold with a depth of 23 nanometres ( a millionth of a meter) will

The price at which it is sold varies from year to year. However, it usually ranges from $1000 USD- $1200 USD per ounce. Gold form Kalgoorlie, many times, is stored at prominent bank companies that can keep it secure for as long as it is desired. Additionally, as a precious metal that is easily malleable ( changeable), gold has several applications in the society, some of which are jewelry, gold coins, mobile phones and GPS. About 78% of the gold refined at this mine is used to produce some form of jewelry. It is also used in the technology industry as it is a very good conductor of heat- which devices like mobile phones require to function properly .Also, it is used in dentistry to make gold fillings which are a replica of human teeth. In conclusion, gold has been improvised to suit many of its applications in the society. To make gold more durable, companies also regularly concentrate it with metals such as copper and silver- which form strong alloys of itself ( BBC, Bitesize GCSE, Science, Metals and