Gold is a metallic element. Its atomic number is 79. It is soft, shiny, yellow, dense, malleable and ductile. It does not react with most chemicals but is attacked by chlorine, fluorine and aqua regia. This metal occurs in the form of nuggets or grains in rocks. It is also found in alluvial deposits.If alloyed with other metals, a term `carat` or `karat` is used to indicate the amount of gold present. Pure gold is 24 carats.

Kolar Gold Fields
Kolar Gold Fields was one of the major Gold mining in India and is located in the "Kolar district in Karnataka, close to the city of Bangalore. It was closed in the 2003 due to reducing deposits and increasing costs. The mine is considered the world`s second deepest gold mine. Although the Kolar Gold Fields are in the state of Karnataka, a majority of the people living there are Tamils, which is unusual for the state of Karnataka. Three hundred thousand people lived in the Kolar Gold Fields at its peak production, but since the closing of mines in 2003 the population has reduced to less than a hundred thousand.

History of Gold
Gold was first mined in the area in the 2nd and 3rd century AD by the digging of small pits. During the Chola period in the 9th and 10th century AD the scale of the operation grew, but large-scale mining only came in the 1850s under the British with more manpower and sophisticated machinery. In 1873, M.F. Lavelle, a resident in Bangalore, applied to the Mysore Government for the exclusive privilege of mining in the Kolar district. His request was granted and he commenced operations by sinking a shaft near Urigam (Oorgaum) in1875, but, finding that large capital would be required he, in the following year and with the approval of the government, transferred all his rights and concessions to the late Major General G. de la Poer Beresford. Major General Beresford formed a syndicate known as the Kolar Concessionaries (now merged into the Gold Fields of Mysore Co.) which took up the matter in earnest, and gradually acquired the area known as the Kolar Gold Fields.

Characteristics of Gold
Gold is yellow in color but can also occur in black or ruby when it is finely divided. The colloidal solutions are intensely colored and are often purple. Gold`s plasmon frequency, lying in visible range, results in colors. It absorbs blue light and causes the red and yellow light to be reflected. Gold is also most malleable and ductile. One gram can be beaten into a sheet of one square meter. It readily forms alloy with many other metals. With copper it yields redder metal, blue with iron, silver produces green, aluminium-purple and platinum-white. Native gold contains generally 8-10% silver. Gold is a good conductor of both heat and electricity. Air and most regents do not affect it. Heat, moisture, oxygen, and most of the corrosive agents have very little chemical effect on gold. Halogens chemically alter gold and aqua regia dissolves it.

Trivia
Kolar Gold Fields was the first city in Asia to get Electricity from Shivanasamudra in Mysore. People from as far as Kolar could see the lights of this once prosperous city. KGF was known as "Little England " by the British, due to its more temperate Weather and a landscape more similar to Britain`s. It also had a sizable Anglo-Indian Population who worked in the various mines in different capacities. The Champion Reefs mine was the second deepest underground mine in the world when it was operational. Silicosis, a form of pneumoconiosis caused by inhalation of crystalline silica dust, was first identified in KGF. National Institute of Miners Health had its headquarters in KGF Mr.K.H.Muniyappa union minister has been successful in reopening this closed mines and giving life to the almost dead city. It is told that it was his election promise.

KGF played a major part in the prosperity of the British Empire. A collaboration of Particle physics from Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, Osaka City University, Japan and Durham University, UK recorded the first Cosmic ray Neutrino interaction in an underground laboratory in KGF mines in 1965. 6KGF also has the distinction of having a Golf course started by the Britisher`s dating back to 1885 and affiliated to Indian Golf Union.