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Terry Heymann, World Gold Council, UK, provides insight into gold’s role as an environmental, social, and governance compliant asset.
t is sometimes easy to forget that gold plays a critically important role in many aspects of everyday life – it is all around us, often hidden from view. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the biggest challenges society has faced in decades, gold helped to make lives easier. Every time someone video called their family and friends, this was made possible through the gold in the microchips in phones, laptops, and wireless infrastructure.
In addition, gold nanoparticles are a major component in rapid tests, helping to realise results quickly, as it is the gold that is responsible for the indicator on the test changing colour. Many countries have relied on these tests to get back to something approaching ‘normality’. Furthermore, gold is a unique metal which does not corrode or tarnish over time. It is, in effect, the ultimate recyclable product. This longevity and permanence is one
global mining review // July/August 2021
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