Gold mining is a time- and resource-intensive process. Here is a breakdown of the life cycle of a gold mine:
1. Gold exploration. Companies must first explore for gold in vast fields of land to discover the ones with viable gold deposits. This is an elaborate process that can take up to 10 years. Explorers rely on experts from fields such as geology, geography, engineering, and chemistry to explore for gold. They use processes such as soil sampling and aeromagnetic surveys to test whether a site has gold. If it does, they do further analysis to determine whether gold mining on the site is economically viable.
2. Development of a gold mine. This can take one to five years. Miners have to secure resources for developing the mine, plan its construction, and obtain licenses and permits. For the actual construction, they have to construct the mine and supporting infrastructure like roads and power stations. Often, miners also have to build community welfare resources for workers.
3. Gold mining. Once a mine is complete, miners can mine for gold. The process involves extracting ore from the ground and applying industrial processes to transform it into a metallic alloy called a drone with 60-90 percent gold. Miners then give the dore to refiners, who refine it into gold bars of up to 99.99 percent purity. Gold mines operate for 10 to 30 years.
4. Gold mine closure. When a mine’s ore is exhausted, or the remaining ore is no longer economically viable to extract, miners will decommission the plant and dismantle the mining infrastructure. Afterward, they will take steps to rehabilitate the land by planting vegetation and detoxifying ponds. This takes one to five years.
