Gold Demand Trends in 2011

Gold demand trends in 2011,demand for gold in year 2011 record by the World Gold Council's Gold Demand Trends (GDT). The World Gold Council's is the leading industry resource for data and opinion on world-wide gold demand. Their quarterly publication examines demand trends by sector and geography .Demand for gold reached a 10-year high with spending reaching a value of $150bn (£93bn) in 2011, as Chinese and Indian consumers increased jewellery purchases and the world's central banks became net buyers for the first time in more than two decades.

Global gold demand in the first quarter of 2011 totaled 981.3 tonnes, up 11% year-on-year from 881.0 tonnes in the first quarter of 2010. In value terms, this translated to US$43.7bn, compared with US$31.4bn in the first quarter of 2010, an increase of almost 40%. This was largely attributable to a widespread rise in demand for bars and coins, supported by an improvement in jewellery demand in key markets.

The World Gold Council showed demand for jewellery grew 17% over the 12-month period, while overall demand for gold was up 9% despite record prices for the precious metal.

Today the value of gold rose for the fourth day in a row to hit $1,378 an ounce and we think price grow up for future, as investors piled into the commodity as a safe haven amid increased political instability in the Middle East.

Chinese jewellery demand last year reached a record figure of 428 tonnes while Indian jewellery needs were raised by just under 70% after a dip in the market during 2009 caused by recession.

Surface Electrocatalysis on Gold

Because gold displays very weak chemisorbing properties, the activated chemisorption model of electrocatalysis is assumed to be inapplicable in the case of this metal in aqueous media. The alternative, which is well established in the chemically modified electrode and redox sensor area, is the interfacial cyclic redox mediator model which, in the case of gold in aqueous media,is sometimes referred to as the incipient hydrous oxide/adatom mediator (IHOAM) [18,33] model. In the case of the Group 11 metals the mediator systems are unusual in that their redox transitions involve couples with nonequilibrium (or metastable) reduced and oxidized states.

A low coverage, surface-bonded, interfacial redox mediator system, M*/M(OH)n(n−z)−, is assumed to undergo a rapid, quasi-reversible redox transition at a potential Es which is well within the double layer region. In some cases this basic mediator (premonolayer redox) response is not evident (the active state surface coverage being too low) under dc voltammetry conditions. However, several options are available to locate such “hidden” mediator transitions, e.g.,

1. More sensitive analytical techniques, e.g., FT-ac voltammetry [12] or ac impedance may be used.

2. The surface may be deliberately disrupted or superactivated by severe thermal or cathodic pretreatment. Severe thermal activation results in strong promotion of at least one, and probably two, premonolayer oxidation responses in the case of gold in acid at E<0.6 V.

3. The onset of incipient oxidation, curve a , provides the interfacial mediator which triggers the oxidation of a dissolved reluctant, Red(aq). Thus, the electrocatalytic oxidation response, curve b , has an onset/termination potential coinciding with the interfacial mediator transition potential, and the former may be used to locate the latter (the same argument applies to an electrocatalytic reduction response, curve c.

4. The potential of the maximum of the multilayer hydrous oxide reduction peak, curve d, often coincides with (and thus indicates the value of) the interfacial mediator transition potential. Such correlations have been discussed for gold, platinum, and palladium in acid solution and for copper in base.

Gold Science and Applications

Gold is used a wide range of industrial and medical applications and accounts for over 10 percent of the annual demand for metal,worth billions of dollars annually.While much has been written about the mystique and trade of gold, very little has been writen about the science and technology in which it is involved.

Gold application in use today include :

-Medical

-Dental

-Electronics

-Engineering

-Industrial

-Pollution Control

-Photography

-Catalysts

-Nanotechnology

MMS Electrochemistry Of GOLD

The MMS electrochemistry of gold is concerned with the behavior of unstable, high-energy, protruding surface gold atoms that undergo oxidation to yield a more dispersed (low-density), hydrated, largely amorphous, hydrous () gold oxide (a review of metal hydrous oxide electrochemistry was published earlier). Multilayer hydrous oxide deposits may be produced on gold in aqueous media by subjecting the electrode to either severe dc polarization , e.g., 3 min at 2.2 V, or to repetitive potential cycling using appropriate upper and lower limits [26,27], e.g., 0.90–2.40 V at 50 V s−1 for 1200 cycles (the efficiency of the oxide growth reaction is dependent on many factors,including the solution pH).

Thick deposits are not produced in a single sweep because the precursor state (MMS gold atoms) exists at the metal surface only at a very low coverage. In the dc procedure oxygen gas evolution occurs quite vigorously initially at an oxide–coated gold surface,and oxide formation apparently occurs as a side reaction, i.e., the gas evolution involves repetitive formation and decomposition of an unstable higher oxide (probably AuO2), and the resulting disturbance of the oxide film leads to a gradual accumulation of an outer, porous, gold oxide deposit. In the potential cycling procedure each cycle results in formation and reduction of an oxide film. Again, there is a side reaction involved, reduction of the place-exchanged oxide in the negative sweep leads to the formation of some MMS atoms which, in the next positive sweep, are converted to oxide species. It is important that, at the lower limit used for oxide growth, virtually all of the, but none of the, oxide is reduced; in this manner the oxide deposit can attain multilayer coverage.

Gold hydrous oxide is not particularly stable; according to Pourbaix’s thermodynamic data it should undergo reduction to the metal in acid solution at ca. 1.4 V. However, in practice oxide reduction occurs only under conditions of considerable cathodic overpotential and invariably at a lower potential than the peak for the reduction of the thin inner oxide film at the same gold surface (after multilayer oxide growth the layer configuration at the interface is usually gold/ oxide/ oxide/aqueous solution; there may be some degree of intermingling of the oxide and aqueous phase). The oxide reduction responses in the negative sweeps are often complicated by the presence of several oxide reduction peaks [27,29], plus the fact that (even in terms of the RHE scale) the  oxide reduction peaks tend to occur at a lower potential in base as compared to acid; this effect is highlighted by the observation, of a sharp oxide reduction peak at E≈ –0.2 V in the case of gold in base. This type of behavior is not confined to gold. Platinum [30,31] and iridium  oxides also show similar behavior.

Color Generattion of Colloidal Gold

The intense red to purple color seen for the Purple of Cassius pigment is achieved by precipitating a colloidal gold solution onto a solid oxide substrate, typically tin oxide. To maximize color intensity,the gold particles need to be unagglomerated and less than 40 nm in size. The color effect is caused by a narrow adsorption band at 520 nm, referred to as the surface plasmon resonance band. If particles agglomerate together and increase above 40 nm, a blue shift occurs and light scattering starts to dominate, resulting in muddy color hues. In 1902, Gustav Mie [112], using classical electromagnetic theory, calculated from bulk properties of metallic gold the absorbance of colloid gold particles as a function of the particle size. His theoretical work also predicted that the wavelength of the plasmon band depends on the shape, surface composition, and dielectric environment of the gold particles.

These concepts are used in modern-day production and research and development to predict and control the color effects associated with Purple of Cassius. For example, most gold colloid solutions seen in the literature are as dispersions in water with fairly consistent dielectric constants. When considering glass enamels, the glass media in which the colloid is dispersed may consist of many different components, all with vastly different dielectric constants. This can lead to massive differences in hue and color strength for the final gold enamels. A practical demonstration illustrating the effect of dielectric constant of the surrounding metal oxide on color shift. Gold nanoparticles of approximately the same size (before and after heat treatment) have been deposited onto three oxides having differing dielectric values. It can clearly be seen that the oxides with low dielectric constants such as silica have red shifts whereas high dielectric materials such as titania shift the color to blue shades which is in accordance with predictions made by Mie. Another strategy for controlling the color is to alloy silver with gold. According to Mie, additions of silver will shift the plasmon band to a shorter wavelength and hence make the particles appear redder. Theory predicts that a single plasmon band with alloys having up to 25% silver will exist, but above this level two peaks appear, one caused by silver and the other gold. In practice, an excess of silver is used to redden off the gold.

Gold Sponges

GOLD SPONGES AND GOLD BLACK, The optical properties of gold nanostructures are exceedingly flexible; it is even possible to prepare gold sponges or gold “blacks” which have very high absorptance [86,87]. The essential attribute of such materials is that they possess very well-developed mesoscale porosity and surface roughness so that they trap and absorb incident light.

Because the structure is at a size scale that is well below the wavelength of the incident light, it becomes possible to model the optical response using Effective Medium theory. In this scheme the performance of the complex composite structure is modeled as if it were a simple monolithic material, using “effective” values of the refractive indices n and k derived from numerical analysis of experimental data. In a sense the sponge becomes an example of a “metamaterial” with engineered physical properties.

Thin Gold Films

Thin films of gold are readily produced on almost any solid substrate by techniques as diverse as electroplating, electroless deposition, and physical vapor deposition. These provide a means by which the desirable optical or surface properties of Au can be exploited without incurring excessive raw material costs. Due to the nobility of gold, such films will generally remain unoxidized, and can be prepared down to a thickness of a few tens of nanometers.

Films of less than 80 nm or so in thickness will transmit an appreciable fraction of any blue to green light that falls on them, with red light and the near-infrared being selectively blocked. This is due to the position of the band edge at about 2.4 eV, described previously. This property has stimulated the use of gold films in spectrally selective applications. The optical properties of Au thin films can also be significantly varied by control of the deposition conditions. The properties are not only controlled by film thickness, but also by the morphology of the film. In particular, the degree of percolation, or its absence, has a strong effect on the shape of the transmitted and reflected spectra [58,59]. Optimum reflectivity in the infrared requires a continuous coating.

Electronic Structure of Gold

Electronic structure of gold, the high corrosion resistance of gold is a consequence of its first ionization potential being 9.2 eV,which is high compared to those of, for example, silver and copper, at 7.6 and 7.7 eV, respectively. This results in such a large barrier to oxidation that elemental gold is ordinarily free of an oxide coating. Gold has the electronic configuration [Xe]4f145d106s1. In this configuration the 4f electrons underscreen the 5d and the 6s,p electrons from the nuclear charge, resulting in an effect analogous to lanthanide contraction.

The lanthanide contraction causes the atomic radius of the lanthanides to decrease across the period as the quality of the shielding per electron decreases; in the 5d metal series this effect gives similar lattice constants to the 4d metals. For some years the stability of the Au2 dimer and the reduced lattice constant in bulk gold compared to silver were attributed to a similar contraction [7]. However, gold is in a unique spot on the periodic table where the effects of the lanthanide contraction are also superimposed on the onset of relativistic effects.

The latter become increasingly important for the heavier elements because as the atomic number increases,the velocity of the 1s electrons approaches the speed of light. This causes these electrons to increase in mass and so their orbital contracts toward the nucleus. To compensate, the higher s and p orbitals, which also have significant electron density in the vicinity of the nucleus, also contract, resulting finally in the outermost 6s and 6p orbitals being smaller than they would otherwise have been without relativistic effects.

Recovery of Gold and Silver

The high concentration of copper might interfere with the selective recovery of gold and silver. The use of ion exchange resins or activated carbon has been advocated to remove the copper ion (Cu+). Either cementation or electrolysis is adopted to recover the gold from the purified solution. The major reactions of the cementation process are the cathodic deposition of gold and anodic corrosion of zinc, which occur at the surface of zinc particles.

In practice, if the cyanide concentration is reduced too much, a passivating layer of zinc hydroxide may form on the surface of the zinc particles. It is reported that cementation of gold is practically constant over the pH range 8–11. However, impurities such as lead,copper, nickel, arsenic, antimony, and sulfur are most deleterious for gold cementation. The poisoning effect of the sulfide ion is thought to be due to the precipitation of insoluble zinc sulfide on the surface of zinc particles.

The electrolysis method has been used in concentrated solutions in electrochemical reactors with planar electrodes. However, with dilute solutions, efficiency is low. Works reported in the literature have shown that high surface area increases efficiency when used in dilute solutions.

Fine Jewelry and Costume Jewelry

In recent years, the lines have blurred between what is considered fine jewelry and costume jewelry. In the past, something like a gold pendant, for example, would be featured only with a gold chain. In today’s more informal times, however, the piece could be found on a leather or silk cord.

This process has been extended further by recently high prices such that a predominantly steel or brass item might carry a small gold accent, weighing a fraction of a gram.A common theme to Western markets is the shift from plain gold to pieces with stones and the move to branded or high-fashion designs. All these carry much higher markups over the value of contained gold, and this is important as the trend for sales in terms of total value, number of pieces,or weight of pure gold can go in opposite directions. 

These trends are also spreading to developing world markets, in particular China where 18-karat gold is gaining market share.These trends are also important as, in industrialized markets, consumers within the overall jewelry segment devote ever more expenditure proportionately to other materials, such as diamonds, or to the perceived value of design and branding, all of which cuts the amount of money being spent on gold. In addition, all jewelry has been losing market share to other discretionary areas, such as foreign vacations or technology goods (such as cell phones), both of which typically enjoy far greater advertising budgets. This has culminated in the weight of gold sold in jewelry form declining steadily in the industrialized world over the past decade or so.

Gold in Jewelry

The use of gold in jewelry can take many forms but, for the purpose of statistics, it is typically measured only when in “karat” form. This specifically excludes an article of costume jewelry made from, say, brass to which a gold plating has been applied. A karat is a measure of purity of gold,defined as parts per 24. Some jewelry, such as that in China, exists in 24-karat form (essentially pure gold), but the highest caratage typically sold is 22-karat (the norm in India) as other metals such as copper and silver are added to bring sufficient strength to the alloy. Just beneath that sits 21-karat, the norm for many Middle East markets. Purchase of these high-karat grades is often motivated by investment considerations. For this to work, the pieces can carry only a small amount of labor or markup over the value of the contained metal.

The main driver for the purchase of the remaining types of gold jewelry is adornment or fashion.Within this, the next major grade is 18-karat jewelry, the norm in areas such as southern Europe.This is the standard typically used in high-quality pieces, especially those carrying precious stones such as diamonds, because at this concentration of gold, the alloy is sufficiently hard to hold stones and color on an effectively permanent basis. This is also the grade at which “white gold” appears gold to which a silver-colored metal such as palladium or nickel has been added in sufficient quantity to mask the yellow of the pure gold and render the piece “white” (industry jargon for silver colored). Beneath that is 14-karat gold, the last grade commercially available in which the majority of the alloy is gold; 8, 9, and 10 karat follow. These qualities are the various norms in northern Europe and North America, and in some markets, the United Kingdom, for example, there is legislation to enforce these standards.

Gold Once Presided as the Dominant Asset in the Reserves of Central Banks

For governments, gold once presided as the dominant asset in the reserves of central banks (commonly referred to as the official sector) and against which all paper currencies were backed. However, with the suspension of the gold standard in 1932 and later dismantling of the Bretton Woods System in the early 1970s, gold’s link to the dollar and the majority of world currencies was severed and the metal’s price was allowed to float freely and be determined by the market. The metal still plays valuable roles for central banks, however, such as reserve diversification, instilling public confidence in the central bank, and economic security. It can also generate income through the lending of its bullion.

As of the end of 2007, total official sector gold holdings stood at just under 30,000 tonnes. The largest holdings are in the Western world, with the United States, Germany, France, Italy, and Switzerland making up the top five and mostly for whom gold is far larger in value than other currency reserves. Japan, China, and Taiwan come in respectively at numbers six, eight, and ten, but the value of their gold holdings is tiny compared to their other reserves.

The official sector has been a net supplier of gold to the market for nearly two decades, providing as much as 18% of total annual supply. The bulk of recent sales has come from European banks. These disposals have been conducted under the Central Bank Gold Agreement, which became effective in September 1999 and was renewed in 2004. A key reason behind these five-year agreements was to add an element of certainty to the market. Purchases by central banks have occurred in recent years, such as those by Russia and China but to date their scale remains limited.

Much of the Gold Value will be Under the Chip

Much of the gold value will be under the chip, if it's attached with gold/silicon solder. I believe the solder makeup is 96Au/4Si. About the only thing that will dissolve it is true hot aqua regia.The acid can only dissolve the solder starting at the edges of the chip. It can literally take take days for the hot acid to completely undermine a large chip.

The main reason for breaking up the CPU is to break up the chip. This provides much more chip edge area for the acid to penetrate. It will still go slow. When the gold is gone, you'll be able to slide the pieces around on the pad.

We used to speed this up on all-gold side braze packages by heating the part up to the melting point of the solder, on a heating block, and removing the chip with a vacuum probe. A sharp pointed knife, like an Z-Acto will work. We then put chip and package in the aqua regia.I think the solder melts around 700-800 F. There are several possible sources of gold on these parts. The percentages are educated guesses and only apply to all-gold parts - gold in every category below.

High value: 60%

- Gold(80%)/Tin(20%) eutectic braze used to attach the gold plated metal lid to the ring

- Gold(~96%)/Silicon(~4%) eutectic braze used to attach the chip to the pad

Medium value: 30%

- Gold plating on the legs

- Gold plating on the metal lid

Medium Low value: 10%

- Gold plating on the inside fingers

- Gold plating on the inside pad - the flat square area where the chip is is mounted

- Gold plating on the bottom of the chip

- Gold plating on the ring where the lid is attached

Very Low value: 2%

- Pure gold bonding wires going from the chip to the fingers - about a mile (1 mil dia.), or two (.7 mil dia.), of wire to the troy oz. This figures out to $.005 to $.01 per inch of wire.

Recycling of Gold

Recycling of gold and other valuable metals from electronic devices at the end of life (WEEE) has a significant potential impact on the sustainable supply of gold and other metals to meet the needs of our modern society. In addition, gold has a vital role to play in the economics of recycling such scrap. Thus, a ‘design for recycling’ approach is needed in specifying materials used in new equipment manufacture by OEMs, especially gold.

Thus, gold is the ‘paying metal’ that triggers recovery of other scarce precious and special metals that otherwise would not be economic to recover.Such an approach needs to be combined with innovative business models that encourage a more comprehensive collection of consumer goods at their end of life.

There are legal requirements in Europe for a ‘closed loop’ recycling system under the EU WEEE Directive, but currently this is far from the reality. Too much scrap is exported and poorly recycled, with a consequential damaging impact on environment and local communities. This loophole needs to be closed. Governments and manufacturers of electronic products have a major role to play here in encouraging efficient collection systems and in enforcing existing legislation.

Gold in Industrial Applications

Gold plays an increasingly important role in industrial applications,particularly in electronics, despite its larger use in jewellery and investment products. As the annual statistics show (Gold Survey 2010, GFMS Ltd, London), some 300t or more of gold are used annually in electronic components such as ICs, contacts and circuitry, the latter notably as gold bonding wire.

Sales growth of electronic devices continues to boom and their in-built features continue to become ‘smarter and quicker’ each year, which has led to a substantial net increase in gold demand over recent years, even though specific gold content is being driven down due to thrifting and miniaturisation.

At the end of their use, electronic and other electrical product scrap offer an important recycling potential for the secondary supply of gold into the market. With gold concentrations reaching 300-350 g/t for mobile phone handsets and 200-250 g/t for computer circuit boards, this scrap is an ‘urban mine’ that is significantly richer in gold than the sources of the primary ores today.

However, as a forthcoming paper points out (C. Hagelüken and C.W. Corti, Gold Bulletin, vol 43 (3,) 2010), the ‘mineralology’ of such scrap products is very different to those of primary ores. Such scrap contains up to 60 different chemical elements that are intimately interlinked in complex assemblies and sub-assemblies. They are usually associated with organic materials that often incorporate halogenated flame retardants. Thus, specialised metallurgical processes with extensive offgas treatments are required to recover the gold and a wide range of other valuable metals in a cost-effective and environmentally sound way.

Equally importantly, the collection of such scrap from millions of households and businesses requires organised logistics to collect and bring the scrap to the recovery and refining facilities; this is undoubtedly a bigger challenge than the primary ore supply chain.