Gold mining photos

Gold mining has been practiced by mankind for hundreds of years, in many forms in order to bring the bright and beautiful metal to the surface and use it to trade, to make a profit and for jewelry.

For those who are not aware of how the golden necklace or bracelet made its way into their possession, there are a few ways of finding out, if there is enough curiosity about it. Books, newspapers and internet pages present information about parts of the process or different processes that have been used and are still used to get the gold.

Gold mining photos have been taken ever since cameras first appeared. Some of the oldest photos of gold mining present methods used in different geographic locations that can make people today better understand the process and how it works.

A black and white photo from the 1880s presents two men gold sluicing somewhere on the East Coast of New Zealand, in Dilban Town. Gold sluicing is the process of extracting gold with the help of a sluice box, which is a channel that presents a series of riffles, allowing water to separate. On the other side of the world and almost one hundred years apart, a photo of gold mining was taken in North America, in the 'old west' of a man taking gold out of a sluice box.

From these photos we can learn some of the richest areas in gold from the world from a few years to a few centuries ago. New Zealand is one of these; photos taken in the 1800s show not only gold sluicing but also mining on a larger scale, using big carts in mines. Australia was hard rock mining in the 1900s, using special tools and the USA has been mining for a long time as well.