The extraction of gold from rocks containing fine gold (gold dust) using the deadly cyanide is a common practice that gold refiners employ in their quest for gold from anywhere and everywhere. Once a rock formation or boulder is identified to contain any precious metal usually gold and silver particles, what happens is that these rocks are selected, marked and catalogued. From here on wards gold refiners normally move in to buy these rocks in their natural state (the rocks are mostly reduced to rubble and debris). After these refiners purchase this rubble, they are sent to the gold refinery where these rocks are further broken down to practically dust by grounding the rocks in huge ‘grinders’. At this stage what happens is sodium cyanide is added to the finely ground dust. Here the solutions are separated and categorized as silver cyanide or gold cyanide solutions. The base metal zinc is added into these solutions to precipitate or filter out the precious metal from the solution. The zinc after this stage is then again removed by the use of sulfuric acid leaving behind only the gold or silver (gold and silver do not react to sulfuric acid). The gold and silver sludge is then transported to smelting plants that convert the sludge to gold ingots. The process only ends after the ingots are sent back to the refinery to be purified into 99.9999% pure precious metal.

The purification process of gold has gone through its final phase when during the 70’s when buying gold bullion was a world wide trend and investment in buying stocks on gold bars reached new heights. This new found method of refining gold incorporated the use of activated carbon. It was a much ‘more’ easier and safer technique without the release of toxic gas that can be fatal to humans in the process of making pure gold. The process basically utilizes the porous significance of carbon that absorbs the gold into its crevices like a filter. After this stage caustic soda is added to extract the fine gold from the carbon this process which is commonly referred to as the elution process. After the elution process the gold is put through electrolyses to obtain the last stage of it turning into 99.9999% PRECIOUS METALS. However, the use of cyanide is strictly monitored by all concerned factions to avoid environmental disasters that can be catastrophic to the vicinity of the cyanide storage facility.