EDITORIAL — New uses for the precious metal — Gold rebounds

How long it will last, no one knows. But the recent upsurge in gold prices is the best news the mining and investment sectors have had for some time.

And good news has been in short supply ever since the Bre-X bubble burst earlier this year.

The Gold Institute has long made the case that prices for the yellow metal would strengthen, based on the fundamentals of supply and demand. The argument is a sound one, as demand for gold in the first quarter of this year reached a record 771 tons — a 17% increase over the same period last year and the highest quarterly figure ever recorded. The Gold Institute, which represents an international association of suppliers of gold and gold products, tracks about 80% of the world’s total gold fabrication.

Council officials attributed the increased demand to income growth by consumers, in concert with increased efforts to deregulate and liberalize international trading in gold.

The bulk of gold demand still comes from traditional uses in jewelry, coins and bars, and as a component in various industrial products. In recent years, however, the yellow metal has found a range of interesting new applications. In fact, gold has boldly gone where no man has gone before: the planet Mars.

The recent landing of the Mars Pathfinder was made easier by gold, which was used in special airbags designed to allow the spacecraft to bounce on the red planet’s surface without damage.

The craft’s airbags depended on gold deployment mechanisms to ensure that inflation occurred exactly on time. The metal was used because it maintains excellent electrical conductivity, does not corrode and keeps its shape under extreme temperatures.

The Pathfinder’s internal circuitry also used gold in contacts and connectors to ensure that electrical connections remain solid. In addition, gold shields on the outside protected the spacecraft’s delicate instruments from extreme cold, heat and ion bombardment during its journey through space.

Who knows? In years ahead, the Pathfinder, or similar vehicles incorporating gold circuitry, might be used to find gold or other mineral deposits on Mars.

Another significant new use for gold — one that harkens images of a brave new world — is plant engineering. Researchers are already “shooting” gold particles imbedded with specific DNA fragments to improve cotton’s natural characteristics. The tests have produced cotton fibre that cools down more slowly and can keep people warmer than conventional fibres. Naturalists need not worry; the end-product is synthesized within the cellulose walls of the cotton fibre and does not come in contact with the skin, thus eliminating the potential for allergic reactions.

Environmentalists may be interested to know that gold can play a role in preventing toxic mercury vapors, formed during high-temperature incineration, from polluting the air. Test programs performed under the auspices of the Department of Energy and the Los Alamos National Laboratory are in progress in an attempt to render the technology commercial.

Currently, mercury vapors are caught and adsorbed by activated charcoal, but test results show that the vapors are eliminated more efficiently when gold is used as an adsorption material. Researchers say the technology using gold is fast approaching maturity.

Another new frontier for one of world’s oldest metals.