Gold from bacteria? Not Stars?

[Travis Hallet]

Ive gold panned a few times and the reason I thought gold was so hard to find because it could only be made in an extremely hot burning star that is even hotter than our sun. Now I search on google and a few years ago reaserchers at Michigan state figure out another way gold is made.

 

The say there is a bacteria that lives in extreme conditions and this bacteria produces gold from the ions it eats.

 

Now to me this seems bogus. Because how can you create a basic element from just a biological organism.

 

Perhaps these bacteria just live in an high gold concentrate area and since gold is a very durable metal it is the only thing these bacteria do not digest.

 

What are your thoughts on this? Is this actually true that we could farm gold? If so I think everyone should sell there gold while they can cause the price will drop drastically.

 

Here is one of the links I came across:

http://gizmodo.com/5948739/researchers-discover-bacteria-that-can-produce-pure-gold

Edited May 19, 2015 by Travis Hallet

[Phi for All]

The say there is a bacteria that lives in extreme conditions and this bacteria produces gold from the ions it eats.

 

Now to me this seems bogus. Because how can you create a basic element from just a biological organism.

 

Perhaps these bacteria just live in an high gold concentrate area and since gold is a very durable metal it is the only thing these bacteria do not digest.

 

From your link (which you should always read first):

Kashefi and Brown are the ones who have created this compact laboratory that uses the bacteriaCupriavidus metallidurans to turn gold chlroride—a toxic chemical liquid you can find in nature—into 99.9% pure gold.

 

 

So they're eating toxic gold chloride (your article misspelled it), a chemical that has very little application, and removing the chlorine to leave Au. Much the same way trees take in CO2, keep the C and leave the O.

 

Now you should research how difficult it is to obtain AuCl3. That plus the cost of the Cupriavidus process should tell you if it will produce profitable gold. It has to be as or less expensive than traditional methods. If not, you're better off with old school.

 

There's a slim possibility of a novelty trend. But you have no real marketing advantage to bacterial gold (bacteria is a tough brand to sell -- we've been fighting it since the old soap days of early radio and TV), the way you would for gold mined from the depths of the sea, or an asteroid. In fact, it's going to seem like you didn't do much to get this gold. I'd pay 5 times what gold is normally worth if I knew it was mined from an asteroid in space. That's some real bragging rights, there. But you put some AuCl3 in a box with some bacteria, and a week later you've got my gold? Sounds like Rumplestiltskin gold to me, so I'd want a discount rather than pay a premium.

[Endy0816]

Investopedia has a decent article in regards:

 

http://www.investopedia.com/financial-edge/1012/could-alchemy-threaten-the-gold-market.aspx

 

Now you should research how difficult it is to obtain AuCl3. That plus the cost of the Cupriavidus process should tell you if it will produce profitable gold. It has to be as or less expensive than traditional methods. You have no real marketing advantage to bacterial gold (bacteria is a tough brand to sell -- we've been fighting it since the old soap days of early radio and TV), the way you would for gold mined from the depths of the sea, or an asteroid.

 

Refer to them as probiotics.

[Phi for All]

Investopedia has a decent article in regards:

OK, so the problem is finding the gold chloride. And it sounds like the bacteria might take longer than a quick H2O2 bath, so even if you find some, there are easier ways to get the gold.

 

Refer to them as probiotics.

How could I forget that strategy?! Probiotic gold sounds like it might have some health benefits. Cure your cancer, give you longer erections, and make you prettier too. One ring to rule them all....

[swansont]

I have some homeopathic gold I could sell you…

[CharonY]

The process is a simple reduction of Au(III) to Au(I) (and some other Au species in lower amounts). It is part of a detoxification process, which essentially means that the amount produced is mostly limited to the area around the bacteria. While there were hints that some are actually able to use dissimilatory Au reduction for respiration (which is known to be the case e.g. for iron) I do not think that such bacteria have been identified nor does C. metallidurans use it. But even then, respiration would happen at a higher rate but is still massively inefficient as the energy yield is typically quite low.

 

As the process is rate limited and does not yield pure product, it is easy to see why it is inefficient. It is more interesting as a part of how deposits of gold could have formed by biotic processes over very, very long stretches of time.

[Justin.Frank]

I don't think these bacterial can product gold, they can not convert the other elements in to Au. They can only concentrate the gold from the environment.