All That Glitters
It started with stars and a bang. The elements that form the building blocks of life on earth were created in nuclear explosions inside stars billions of years ago and ultimately scattered throughout the universe. This includes element number 79, gold. As our planet was forming, gold particles formed part of the earth’s core. It is theorised that a period of intense asteroid activity about four billion years ago forced some of this into the mantle. Other theories suggest hot fluids and magma dissolved the gold particles and moved it closer to the surface where it eventually cooled in fissures and cracks in the crust. Tectonic shifts, erosion, weathering and other geological processes over millions of years then exposed these gold deposits to a point where humans could eventually access them.