Gold

Gold is a precious metal with a striking appearance, yellow in colour, that has given rise to its great popularity in usage for items of jewellery. It is extremely malleable and ductile, making it very adaptable for shaping to form different designs. It is used in this field in the alloyed form to give extra strength and rigidity to the gold.

Gold is also a good conductor of both heat and electricity, and very inert. Consequently its applications cover a broad scale, including use in vacuum deposition, electrical contacts and plating - used in the coating for space satellites. However most of the metal is retained for use as bullion reserves.