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The Biogeochemistry of Gold

¹ Department of Earth Sciences, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, N6A 5B7, Canada
E-mail: gsoutham{at}uwo.ca
² Geomega Inc., Boulder, CO 80301, USA
³ School of Chemistry, Physics and Earth Sciences
Flinders University, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia
⁴ Centre for Tectonics, Resources and Exploration
School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Adelaide, CSIRO Land and Water, Waite Laboratories, Urrbrae
SA 5005, Australia

The biosphere catalyzes a variety of biogeochemical reactions that can transform gold. Microbial weathering contributes to the mobilization of gold by releasing elemental gold trapped within minerals and by solubilizing gold via oxidation-promoting complexation. Subsequent microbial destabilization of gold complexes coupled with bioprecipitation and biomineralization can immobilize gold, completing the cycle. Secondary gold can occur as colloidal particles, crystalline gold and bacteriomorphic structures, the latter being a controversial form of `biogenic' gold.

KEYWORDS: gold biogeochemistry, secondary gold, gold complexes, bacteria

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