Very interesting photos, thanks for sharing.

I work at a gold mine, it was a rush to hold an 18kg ingot.

But when it boils down to it, all this fuss over a shiny yellow metal.....

Cheers for the pictures.

Does all the gold in the world worth one minute of the stolen happines of a single one child seen in this pictures?

Amazing photo collection as usual. The disparity between the industrial mine in 36 and the illegal miners in 27 is immense but the destruction in both is evident.

amazing! i love gold! :)

lol, that pic of the titans player surprised me

You lose points, for once, for not including an image from the Staffordshire Hoard - very gold, and very current. http://www.staffordshirehoard.org.uk/

Super! Five star!

There's such a striking visual difference between the photographs of gold artwork and how that gold is produced: pure beauty versus raw industry. Incredible!

BORING. A giant step backwards for The Big Picture. How about "Navel Fuzz" or "Personalized Toothpicks".

You were doing so well with Haiti. Anyone can take stock photos of museum pieces.

#10
i doubt that these are made from gold.

Who determines if gold miners are legal or illegal? How can someone "own" the gold floating down a river?

There are several of these photo collections a week. They aren't all going to be photos of people dying. Sorry to disappoint you.
I thought it was a beautiful entry.

amazing pictures!

#34 - what a waste of gold

#12 misses the point entirely (sigh): "They aren't all going to be photos of people dying. Sorry to disappoint you." How arrogant!

Wow, talk about excess in #5. You know what this sushi is missing? Gold.

As David Cross once said:
"Tasteless, odorless gold. To eat! And I thought, 'Wow man, if that isn't the ultimate 'F**K YOU!' to poor people, then I don't know what is...."

lol to poster 14. So little we do with gold is useful. In my mind, it's a worthless metal, because all of its great properties for electronics is easily outweighed by its cost, driven up because people think it's pretty.

my son would say " these pictures are WIN!"

Oooh... look at the shiny stuff. My preciousssssss!

Humans are really no better than much more primitive species. All of this destruction and greed over a shiny substance.

I don't understand the point I'm missing. This is a photo blog with news photos from around the world. Sometimes they are about wars or natural disasters and sometimes they are about things like gold. Why would people complain about the content? The pictures are always amazing.

Truly stunning ...

Thanks for putting picture #5 next to picture #6, it really gets the point across.

Yes I understand that peoples general craving for this material is what enables others to live off of it, but still, seeing those kids working to mine gold next to a gold plated meal is just sickening.

These are interesting.

Hehe I'd take a nail file with me and rasp some of of that giant block ^^

Epic!

Please no more posts saying effectively "nice pics." Every Big Picture entry has about 1/2 the posts giving non-specific accolades. BLAH BLAH.

You know, it's pretty and all, but only man assigned value to this. I mean seriously...it's just a mineral.

Don't get me wrong though, the photos are wonderful here, they always are.

Too bad gold mining in the US is HORRIBLY POLLUTING when mining companies leave pools of untreated chemicals laying around and never clean them up. They also destroy land including sacred Native American areas as well. Don't buy gold!

Thanks for the nice pictures! At least I don't have to look at depressing pictures all the time. I don't know about other people, but that really takes a toll on my psych (Is that a word?).
I don't understand the fascination with gold. It's practically lead except its yellow and yet people are willing to go the distance to get it. I think the human race are conditioned to treat gold a a valuable commodity just like paper money. When you think about it, the money in your wallet is just paper yet you won't burn it or throw it away.
People.........Strange.........

Yet another graphic illustration of just how destructive humanity is.

Dear Federico,
Yes.
Yours truly,
me

I am personally disappointed that there was no photo of Glen Beck telling us how much he loves gold... while on his show, which is sponsored by a company that buys gold... whom he does advertisements for...

I hate that man...

Great photos though!

A significant player in the gold market is not featured here... Where is South Africa?? Johannesburg, the city of gold (Known to locals as Egoli)??

@Federico: "Does all the gold in the world worth one minute of the stolen happines of a single one child seen in this pictures?"

You mean the children whose families have an income because of gold, and hence aren't dying of starvation? You talk about "stolen happines [sic]" but the one child whose face we can see wears a smile.

Finally, something cool instead of more Haiti, Haiti, Haiti...thanks, Big Picture!

For Pic #14 - very appropriate that the photo is from a game involving the 49ers (who are, of course, named after prospectors from the California gold rush).

Au my, those are nice pictures! :)

hermanos haitianos les mandamos toda la fuerza estamos con ustedes en este duro momento los argentinos rezamos por ustedes no reneguemos de dios x algo pasan las cosas y si el dispuso esto por algo debe ser aunque duela y no sepamos poque pasa esto ,tienen que ser fuertes sus seres queridos estan descansando en paz ,mucha pero mucha fuerza estamos con ustedes

Talk about treasures: All of a sudden, I wish I could work at Christie's. :-)

wowww i want it

Very interesting photos, thanks for sharing.
You' ve demonstrated the two sides of gold: the luxurious side and the side of hard work.

Congratulations !

Just piping in to say I'd love to see a big picture feature on navel fuzz (#10).

I love #36. I would like to live there. :)

Currency that still has value 1000 years later? (#2)

What will a US dollar be worth in 1000 years?

10 years?

The one thing that people miss when they say "it's just a shiny metal" is that it is a metal that essentially, for all practical purposes does not corrode and once refined lasts in the same state for ever. This stability is rare. It is also the most malleable and ductile of metals. This in itself explains much of it's usefulness to humans since the beginning of our mucking about with minerals.

The fact that humans get hypnotized by shiny things like Disney figurines and Sushi topings is another matter entirely. :P

Awesome pictures...

The Dalada Maligawa in Kandy, Sri Lanka could have had a place here though. It has a gold plated roof with hundreds of solid gold artifacts inside the temple. The Brunei gold domed mosques could also have been included.

Other than those, the pictures as always are very informative and I thoroughly enjoyed them. Bravo on the good pictures.

Amazing to see how Gold history is a human civilizations mirror

Interesting pictures.

more than 10 out of 37 photos from a gold store in Tokyo!

Where are the pictures from the Gold Souk in Dubai and those from India? Especially of the the ornate jewelry.

I like how it's illegal if it's not a huge company or government operation. F them, if these people can do it, more power to them.

Whether it was intentional or not the pairing of photos 5 and 6 is perfect.

mmmm... gold sushi...

I photographed the Gold Museum in Bogota Colombia back in 2005. Amazing collection.

My sister's step-son is 6 years old and one day while we were walking my dog, Zachary found big glass bead and exclaimed "HEY! I Found Gold!" he was so proud and excited, made me smile and then he says "here you can have it."
It is on my desk right now. :-D

Lovely pictures...such a shame that while some have in abundance other have to scrounge for the bare minimum...there is so much of disparity in society today and we humans are the cause of all this imbalance...not all the gold and money in the world can protect you in the face of natural calamity...and as we sow, so shall we reap...it's high time we realise this basic truth of nature and pull up our socks...better late than never...

I am a Chinese geologist. Very beautiful pictures and useful materials. Thank you very much.

I think you can put a lot of things on the web. Minerals, plants, animals, people..... That's useful.

#5 is digusting! Highlighted by #6 following it.

@Tim - yes, I'm sure he loves the manual labour every day to eke out a meager existence. Who needs to go to school anyway? Half-wit.

amazing.
I love your blog!

civilisations have been wiped out off of that crap, african children are dying over that crap, only for these w greedy bloodsuckers to make stupid novelties

Stark contrast with Haiti pics. Strange world that we live in. Well done.

Hi,

I work at a gold mine, it was a rush to hold an 18kg ingot.

But when it boils down to it, all this fuss over a shiny yellow metal.....

Cheers for the pictures.

Amazing to see the contrast of the miners and the people who are going to buy the products. It is a living for few and a novel for the other. What I also see is the capability of the humans.

Brilliant Photographs.
Can you do a similar one on diamonds? that would be even more captivating!

I've got a crush on the girl of photo #29

:-P

" Gold Fire -Assayer" for years! I got lead poisoning from it, have brain lesions to prove it, and live on welfare for it! Greedy Corporations in Canada victimized me! They watch and at the first signs of lead poisoning in workers, downsize them out the door to avoid the high medical costs they will face! Gold mining- not a fair and friendly corporate effort at all!

People eating gold make me sick.

Gold? it is all about Unobtainium nowadays.

Wow, such destruction.. I had hoped to see pictures of some more beautiful objects, but solid gold Disney figures.. busts of Mao.. give me a break. Such blatant misuse of such precious material borders on the criminal.

Excelente material. Agradezco que lo hayan compartido.

Wish I had just 1% of all that "Gold"

I love gold..wish i culd wrk 4 a cmpany

Gold Score:
Man's Greed and Lust for riches: 1
Earth being destroyed to get the gold: 0
Poor people being taken advantage of for gold: 0
Very sad indeed - 1 Timothy 6:9,10

It's clear from these pictures, and from history, that gold and the desire for it are an engine of misery.

A little surprised that there are no photos of America's historic gold rush areas... (California and Alaska.)

Was looking for them as I went through these, and was disappointed.

Very nice BP but how can you forget the Golden Temple, Pb, India

Maybe set your minds to Haiti

Really reached for the low hanging fruit on this photo assignment.

Bring back The Big Picture! This is embarrassing. Must every visitor give the standard accolades like "great pics" or "wow" even for this? This is bush league photojournalism not worthy of the usual photo blog entries at The Big Picture. Somebody phoned this one in.

Bring back the good stuff!

What's even sadder is all that gold being made into busts of gods that don't exist for those poor people who mine it to throw more of their money at the feet of these gods. That is sad.

I'm not an historian nor a philosopher. I noted that the images included the profane, (Disney). And no reference to the qualities that made gold sacred to the ancients. I think that gold was revered not for its monetary value but for its LASTING BEAUTY. Those that made this documentary only value what can be bought or sold. The elders valued symbols of eternity. The makers of this collage are sadly lacking in understanding.

absolutely frivolous worldwide obsession

Great photos!

What about 14?

Are the snow white figurines licensed?

here are some gold car models my Michael Dunlap

http://www.batechocolate.com/Michael_Dunlap.html

miracle of world

Actually is Brazil's northern state of Pará.

#5 & #6 Together they say everything about the world we live in... Sad...

In the subtitle of picture #16 there´s an error. The name of brazilian state is Pará and not Paral. I am brazilian by the way. Great pictures. I always visit the website.

Cool pictures!
The right name for the Brazilian state mentioned in #16 is "Para" (no L at the end)

i love gold and pics are too good.

#79 - Please take a moment to realize that Alan creates this collection for a collective readership and not just for your tastes. For all I know you may have a professional photographers sensibilitity but each and every one of the millions who view these photos do not. We come here to be educated, delighted, moved, and also simultaneously slowly moved along the way to a better understanding of photo journalism. The various positive comments one sees here related to postings mean that Alan is reaching viewers. Not you in all cases, but someone. And reaching each someone is important to a newspaper. So please realize this is not about you but rather about all of us. This is a large and varied community and we grow and learn together.

I was struck by juxtaposition of the picture of gold leaf being eaten with sushi followed by the picture of children panning for gold.

Shame.

Wow! That is an amazing photo of a huge chunk of gold!! BTW, I've quickly glanced through all your photos and they are all soo great!

Bruce Zimmerman, you are truly priceless. Exactly the response I thought I'd see to my earlier post....pure pretentiousness. A Hallmark card couldn't have produced more pious bilious umbrage than your comment.

Thank you.

And thanks for the return of The Big Picture with the newest Haiti photos! Finally no more stock photos!

Gold is money. To all the people griping about this "useless" metal, why don't you throw away your "useless" dollar bills out of your wallet? Gold is money that no government can devalue, destabilize or destroy.

Beautiful images. Thanks for posting them. Been to the Ginza Tanaka store many many times.

Gold IS money. The US Dollar is an unpayable debt obligation.

as a child in california in 1972 i worked in a spray paint factory. feel guilty for using paint you have ruined my life

This photo essay basically shows how absurd the obsession with gold is.

Gold! The only metal that man has been looking up to for the last 5000 yrs...... Amazing..... :)

there are many undiscovered mysteries out there ...........that continue to unfold ..........Gold has traditionally been used by individuals and bankers in finance since the beginning of mining..........When scientists have some more time to play with gold .........we may see that it has chemical /physical properties .........

that make it immeasurably more valuable than it's value as a medium of finance..........

although as a antidote to BANKER and POLITICIAN FRAUD (BTD's: banker transmitted diseases ie debasement of fiat (paper) currencies) it is becoming more valuable by the day .....

Drop a bar of gold into the middle of Haiti and surround it with loaded firearms.

Now the results from that would make a truly disgusting Big Picture.

Every form of low-tech gold mining is not "panning".
To "pan" for gold requires an actual pan.

love golds, but we must remember,we should love and protect our nature

interesting having this gallery between to haiti galleries.

If you hate the govt, then you should BUY lots of silver and gold bullion and shun their worthless debt coupons called Federal Reserve Toliet Paper.

Bets the hell out of having your purchasing power STOLEN from you (and then having to pay tax for the privilege of earning a NEGATIVE real interest rate!

Screw Congress and screw the "Fed" and HOARD REAL MONEY!

This photo set is one of the reasons for the over-inflation of a regular, albeit rare mineral. It causes the ravaging of many regions by people in order to gather as much "treasure" as they can not realizing they are actually destroying the real treasure.

Great photos no matter!

All that glitters is gold, but something which does not may also be gold, be careful not to miss it.

gold and silver are finite. unlike US Dollars. they are infinite.

"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value - zero." (Voltaire, 1694-1778)

Great photographs!!!

ALE JAJA JAKIE ZLOTO

"#34 - what a waste of gold"

#17 also.

The Real Beauty of the Barbarous Relic is now evident for all those not willingly blind or ignorant to see with clarity.

The frauds we refer to as The Fed, in league with equally adept fraudsters, the Politicians, together with the ignorant and/or paid for Main Stream Media, have, in unison, allowed the biggest theft in the history of mankind to take place, unreported and, in reality, ignored. Any individual that is informed would understand this and write off any and all statements by these creeps, understanding that they have no interest in the real truth, only the truth that is manufactured for public consumption. This is what a fiat money system not only allows, but encourages, until there is nothing left to steal, either directly or by inflation. Will our banksters and "leaders" move to the south of France with all the other despots on the planet when the financial house of cards they have built finally falls completely down?

I've heard/read it all: barbarous relic, useless metal, people/places destroyed to acquire the metal, blah, blah, blah. The reality: this "useless" metal has been held in high regard by humanity for thousands of years for many reasons AND is, once again, shining brightly now, telling all who will notice that the fiat money system has been abused to the point of near worthlessness, as has always been the case with the "paper of the politicians".

The choice today: fiat paper or physical gold - take your choice, but be careful, for choices have consequences, the choices you make today quite literally determining the state of your future, ie, poverty or not. If you believe the hypocrites/liars/cheats, go on and accumulate their paper. If not, there is no choice but to buy the "barbarous relic".

For more info about how gold is produced and how you can help clean it up, see www.nodirtygold.org - the No Dirty Gold campaign.

Yes Kirk, I couldn`t have said it better.............bought gold bars in 2001 at average price of $ 277.00 US/oz...........no paper money,anywhere,anykind would have earned me almost 400% return.......and counting.

Dont know why the bad mouth for the beautiful shiny yellow metal.....obsession with paper currency is worse.....people do far worse things to obtain paper.

Does anyone know the exact address of this Divr & Stoler business in New York ? :)

Mao?!
no

Not realy good

If I have the opportunity to touch so much gold, I'm sure to have long nails to scratch a little milligram ^ ^

ohhhhhhhh is beautiful the 18 because with gold she has made disney land statue

for the first pictures, I think that incredible!
how a (lingot) can is big!

i realy love gold but i did'n love the sacrifice to do when we what to make. it is degelas

The thought occurred to me that maybe gold only has real value to "the gods" and not to ignorant humans. And many thousands of years ago when "the gods" came to this planet, they instructed humans to accumulate as much of this substance as possible, so when "the gods" return it will be waiting for them to take. Wouldn't that be a kick in the pants. This wild idea really makes me smile.

Most of the comments reveal the almost total ignorance of the US population regarding the role of gold in the overal economic picture. Every paper currency in history has ended in disaster, and now the dollar is too.

The gold leaf being eaten is probably only about $10 US worth of gold (less than 1/2 gram). I'm sure many of you drink more expensive drinks than that. Gold is extremely malleable so even a very small nugget can be hammered out to a very wide and thin foil, less than 0.3 micrometers thick.

Luk wrote:

>I don't understand the fascination with gold. It's practically lead
>except its yellow and yet people are willing to go the distance to
>get it.

Actually about twice a dense as lead, only Tungsten and Uranium plus
a few more expensive metals like Platinum are denser. Also unlike
Lead, Gold is inert and thus non-toxic. (Though still no flavour or
nutritional value so eating it is still kinda stupid. ^_-) Also it's a
very good conductor of electricity, better than copper but not as
good as silver. As some others mentioned it doesn't corrode so it's
a usefull plating on things you want to last, this is why it's used
on electronic connectors.

>I think the human race are conditioned to treat gold a a valuable
>commodity just like paper money. When you think about it, the money
>in your wallet is just paper yet you won't burn it or throw it away.

Except Gold is better suited as money because it's supply can not be
expanded without work, so it's value is a reflection of the value of
the work that goes into mining it. Paper money can be created by
central banks and given or lent to those who are politically favoured
to the detriment of everyone else who holds or is owed any. Central
bankers don't work anywhere near as hard as the people that mine
metal, any metal.

HI,
NICE PIC I LIKE IT
VERY CUTE

i NEED ONLY FOOD, HEALTH , LOVE AND SEX. food easyly, health depends to ourseves to care , love is a chance , Only sex needs gold.

Het is een hip website. Ik houd van de indrukwekkende foto's op natuur, dieren,etc...
Vooral de foto's op de gold wie zijn schitterend.

=)

The Big Picture has always shown great picture. Unfortunately, in a collection of gold pictures, you have missed showing at least a picture of the Museo del Oro (Gold Museum) in Bogotá, which is the largest collection of prehispanic gold pieces in the world. Instead, you only show a sad picture with illegal gold searchers in Colombia.

frantic images......

Anyone in the market for a gold wedding ring or other bauble should
see these photos. Would you want poor people hacking and sloshing
through the mud to please YOU? The gold figurines are particularly
disgusting.
Jennifer Gans, San Francisco, January 30, 2010. 7:10pm

Not all gold mined is the result of "poor people sloshing around in the mud". Regardless, there will always be demand for gold, which will result in people of all economic classes hunting for it. The world we live in "is what it is", no amount of concern or bleeding heart opinion will change that.

I agree, the figurines are tasteless...

As you can see in picture number 9 the buyer just hit the total button.

Actually I LIKE to slosh around panning for gold. It's a great vacation. Warm sun, a pan, some gravel, water, cloudy, then clearing... and after a while LOOK! Grains of Gold among grains of black sand.
All this fun, and you get money too... maybe enough to pay for the day at the camp ground, or motel. Maybe even enough to pay for meals and drinks... and maybe even a bit more.
Yep... I like it. It's fun.
Profitable too... I guess it's all about that "Pursuit of happiness" thing.

wooow .................

# 3 - amazing craftsmanship and photography
#19 - great shot
How does the song go....? "...all the gold in California (or wherever) ...is in someone else's name!

A mi MIrta Seba y Jesi del comentario 40 les deseo lo mejor en su vida y ojala que la puedan vivir por sus propias desiciones y no por creencias ridículas de entes que NO EXSISTEN. La naturaleza se expreso con un terremoto por temas fisicos y quimicos del PLANETA EN EL CUAL VIVIMOS. Dios nada. Y a toda la gente de Haití la verdad que no les puedo decir nada porque los que estan pasando es de lo peor. Solo deseo la pronta recuperacion del pais y sus subrevivientes. Y pedir a todos los gobiernos del mundo que ayuden a que esto ocurra con todos los recursos que existan. NOSOTROS HACEMOS NUESTRA HISTORIA. Respetense.

Amazing, the journey of GOLD . . .

Great pictures , Thanks for the effort.
Eating Gold is a VERY Stupid thing.

why must be gold but not silver...???

all i see is exploitation of land and people by gold-hungry co.'s like Barrick.

gold, gold, gold....oh how we love gold....you can do so much with it!
you can eat it, it can give you shelter, it can heal you and you can drink it when your thirsty.
wake up and get a grip people.

Great Pics,
Always knew the importance of gold in India, These pics made me realize Gold's importance worldwide.
Amazing.

thats looking so unBELIVEble,but there has no any gold of my country

#11 Precise Location: River "Dagua", Province "Valle del Cauca" , Municipality "Buenaventura", Town "Zaragoza"
Wonderful pictures as always. I recomend your blog everytime.
Regards from Colombia

you have a nice work here i love to work with you but i want you to send me a nice gold i mean local one pictures about three to my email prodigal.love@yahoo.com

It is truely a sad fact that the developed world places such high value on a rare metalalic commodity due to the nature of financial maniputalions. That undeveloped nations' peoples delve in the externality of squalor is shameful but a consequence of their own self-serving governments' is a but a judgement against them. If there were justice in this world those people would have gainful employment and not be working under such conditons. That said, until mankind, in masse, finally realizes that government control of money is the basis of the problem it will not go away.

i think all of these pictures are fonomanal

Wish you had shown more miners and less art. Otherwise,

If you aren't self-sufficient, shut up. Even the computer you are typing on has gold in it. You effectively import food, use vehicles and live in houses. Where did the materials come from.

I toil for gold. Grow a garden. Heat with wood. I produce goods.

What do you produce? Hmm, produce nothing, ergo parasite.

kool these r neat to put in my porject!!
thanks!

ORO Y MAS ORO

To mine enough gold to make one 18K wedding band, they have to crush earth the equivilant of 7 Hummers or 10 regular cars plus the use of cyanide and sulfuric acid that leaches into the ground water and poisons the earth and the miners. Buy only recycled gold!

REALLY SUPERB PHOTOS..............CAN'T ABLE TO GET THESE TYPE OF PHOTOS

wow those so much greart picture i most like #10

good pic

yes, this is also a gold mines.

All that glitters is gold, but something which does not may also be gold, be careful not to miss it baby.......

Remarkable study, I just handed this onto a colleague who was doing merely a small research on that. And he really bought me lunch simply simply because I discovered it for him smile So permit me rephrase that: