Want to know where your gold came from? And how it was made into a glittering piece of metal? Then, this is the right blog for you to see and explore! “It’s too gold to be Good,” is a blog prepared by our team to feature the different processes of mining gold. From searching and collecting the gold ores underground and finally up to refining gold specks into a small solid gold, this blog site holds the key that opens the door of a new and one-of-a-kind golden experience. Gold is a natural resource mineral found in some places of the earth. In the Bicol Region, Paracale is one blessed town to have this resource in abundance but it does not just instantly land in your hands but rather it passes through an incredibly lengthy and intricate manner for it to turn into a glistening and pricey piece of jewelry. So now, feel free to explore our blog while definitely learning as well!
Background of the Story
| This blog will not just focus on the shimmers and glitters of gold but also the stories and realities of life behind every gold that is mined while featuring different gold mining schemes in the place. It aims to let the people know how gold is processed inform them about mining gold as part of a culture, and discuss gold mining as main source of livelihood in the town of Paracale. Ultimately it aims to inform people how gold mining contribute to our economy, and it may as well feature risks that miners have to take just to get gold. Pan or “pabirik” is used to separate precious minerals specially gold from loose soil, gravel or sediment. This process of separating gold is called Gold Panning. 1 This is the most popular way of gold separation in Paracale.
Aside from gold panning, the “Gold Town” as what Paracale is known because of its abundance of Gold, has 5 common mining schemes, Compressor mining, suction boat, open pit, leaching and ball mill (Please watch interview with Mayor Romeo Y. Moreno) |
Compressor mining is a rough way of extracting gold ore from soil deposited by water flowing over flood plains or in river beds or even within private residential where miners dive down a muddy sinkholes, breathing thru a plastic hose, air supplied by electric driven or diesel fuelled air compressor machines2. This method was accordingly first introduced by Paracalenos as one mining scheme in the region.
Suction boat on the other hand makes use of boat equipped with a dredging devices such as a wide sluice box, compressor for the diver to breathe under the water, and the machinery used in operating a suction boat. The suction sucks the sands and the sluice catches the gold from the sand that slides on the wide sluice. (Please view video on suction boat in our Video Collection)
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| Image of Suction Boat |
Leaching and ball mill both uses machines to liquefy gold ores before performing gravitational separation or ashing to separate the gold from other impurities. These two schemes, makes use of chemicals such as cyanide, mercury and nitric acide. Minerals that may be harmful to the health of the miner and to the environment but since it is the most effective and cost efficient way of recovering gold from gold ores, small scale miners employ these schemes. (Please view video on leaching and ball mill in our Video Collection)
"It's too Gold to be Good"- This video blog will provide you actual footages of how the natural resource gold is extracted and refined using the different schemes employed by small scale miners before it lands in your hands as the pricey piece of jewelry that completes your fashion accessory.1 Encarta® World English Dictionary [North American Edition] © & (P)2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Developed for Microsoft by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.
2 City Ordinace No.1 s.2001- An Ordinance Regulating/Prohibiting The Small Scale Mining Operators, financiers/Gold Panners to Operate Within The Residential Areas, Public and Private Establishments and Infrastructure Projects in the Poblacionand Suburbs This Municipality Using Compressor and Other Engines/Devices and Providing Penalties for Violators Thereof.
