Why gold loves arsenic (2021)

  • Having panned for gold in Gympie I was convinced I'd come home with a lot of pyrites and now 30 years later I feel I need to revisit that tiny jar of yellow dust.

    (Got a killer dose of sunburn just above the bum crack bending over in the stream with my pan, a reminder sunscreen has to go EVERYWHERE.)

  • Fascinating read! So if arsenic helps gold concentrate in deposits, does this mean arsenic-rich environments are better places to prospect? Or is it more about how existing deposits form rather than finding new ones?

  • It loves mercury too which is also toxic. Interesting.

  • quick search on "arsenic in water" yields endless official governmental and other notices all over the world, so there does not apear to be a direct asosiation between (recoverable) gold and arsenic and that it is so prevelant that some humans have adapted and pass arsenic. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/centuries-poison-l...

  • So what you are saying is that fool's gold isn't totally foolish.

  • If you have lots of gold, have your food tested for arsenic.

  • With this sympathy between gold and arsenic discovered, we’re one step closer to the philosopher’s stone.

  • Genuine question for an outsider: would this imply that gold can be created? My memories from the last chemistry class I had, I clearly remember my teacher demonstrating philosopher stone ( aka changing materials in gold ) was feasible.