interesting article on other usage of GOLDGold producers eye mother lode of new possibilities
LIMA — The record price of gold has producers digging for new uses for the yellow metal -- not just jewelry but a host of medical, industrial and environmental applications that are showing promise.
At a meeting of gold producers in Peru this week, mining firms and others were not just basking in the glow of the rally in prices but talking about the uses of gold that are not so well known.
"Gold clearly is money, it's a beautiful adornment, but there is a sizeable amount which is used on applications for energy efficiency, to help control pollution, help treat medical ailments and indeed these are likely to increase in the future," said Richard Holliday, the World Gold Council's director for the industrial sector.
Currently about 70 percent of gold output goes to jewelry and related items.
But Holliday argued that in the coming years, a whole host of new industrial and medical uses for gold will emerge from research laboratories, based on gold's unique technical properties.
"Overall medical use is never going to be a driver or a mainstay of gold demand. But it's going to punch above its weight because of the stories it can tell," he said.
"I think people want to hear those stories: when they are investing in gold or buying a piece of jewelry, the magic of gold isn't just about its value and beauty and history in those area, it's also about its elemental qualities, amazing properties as well."
The Etruscans used gold in dental work in the seventh century BC. Today the use of gold nanoparticles for treating cancer is showing promise.
Overall, the medical and industrial uses for gold represent about 12 percent of demand, but producers are paying close attention.
Gold can be used in catalytic converters instead of or alongside platinum to reduce automobile emissions. Similar catalytic converters are being tested in the United States to reduce factory emissions of mercury because gold can reduce other hazardous chemicals released into the environment.
To some in Peru, the environmental benefits of gold represent a cruel paradox, where pollution with mercury has long been a problem in mining areas in the Amazon.
But producers are trying to trumpet the variety of uses that can be a benefit for gold-producing nations like Peru, and are using the slogan "gold for good" to highlight this theme.
Gold is malleable, corrosion resistant and a good heat conductor, making it useful for a number of uses in electronics.
Experts said a mobile phone contains 0.03 grams of gold, and Holliday pointed out "there is almost a dollar of gold in your laptop," and said the computer industry used about 30 tons of gold in 2009.
Gold producers say these applications are growing.
"The results are slow because of the thousands of projects just a few materialize," admitted Ignacio Bustamante, chief executive of Peruvian gold mining group Hochschild.
"But it is only the beginning of research on new uses for gold. And we, mining groups, believe that it is a valid bet," he said.
Many people still see gold -- whose price rose to record highs recently; about 1,200 dollars per ounce -- as an investment that can hold its value during financial market volatility.
David Epner is head of New York-based Epner Technology, which makes gold coating and other components for NASA space equipment and other high-tech devices, but he also said most people still consider the precious metal a refuge from the financial market storm.
"Friends come to me to see if I could help them... get a few ounces of gold to put away for protection," he said.