How much seawater is needed to extract an ounce of gold?

Each liter of seawater contains, on average, about 13 billionths of a gram of gold. Another way to look at it, is it would require processing about 30 million pounds of sea water to get one ounce of gold.

Can you extract gold from sea water?

Using electrochemical methods, comparable to those used in electroplating, gold has actually been extracted from the ocean, but unfortunately the cost of the process is five times the value of the gold obtained.

How much gold is in a ton of seawater?

At a concentration of about 11 parts per trillion, a ton of sea water contains 0.001 cent worth of gold.

How much gold is in the water?

According to the National Ocean Service, our oceans hold some 20 million tons* of gold, suspended in normal seawater.

How do you recover gold from seawater?

Gold recovery is made simply by dispersing the adsorbent nanostructured powder in the seawater. The protonated Mn2O3 nanoparticles become covered by a single atomic layer of gold. The polydisperse nanometer-size gold particles formed initially subsequently grow to submicron sizes.

How much gold is in the ocean from shipwrecks?

How Much Treasure is Down There? The short answer, Sean Fisher says, is $60 billion. Fisher is a shipwreck hunter at Mel Fisher’s Treasures in Key West (Sean is Mel’s grandson), and he gives this figure based on his company’s historical research.

Is there gold in beach sand?

Beach sands rarely contain an appreciable amount of gold unless large storms occur at precisely the right time and place, when tides have transported gold nearby, for the heavy waves to bring gold to the beach.

How much does it cost to extract an ounce of gold?

These numbers report that the cost of extracting an ounce of gold is actually over $1,000 per ounce, well above the aforementioned numbers. And since gold is currently trading at just over $1,200 per ounce, it explains why mining companies have had less-than-stellar profits.

Is it possible to extract gold from seawater?

A similar article appeared in the Times in 1941, stating that Columbia professor Colin Fink had developed a method to take gold from seawater as part of the bromide-extraction process. He even filed for a patent for his process in 1942. Once again, this optimism proved unfounded.

What is the concentration of gold in seawater?

Gold, aside from being a rare element, is also very unreactive, and does not easily form compounds that can find their way into the ocean by dissolving in water. For these reasons, the concentration of this metal in seawater is extremely low.

How much is a ton of gold in the ocean worth?

A concentration of gold in sea water of 65,000 parts per trillion was reported in 1872, and is still frequently cited as an authentic value. This is equivalent to $0.065 per short ton and, if valid, would indeed offer a chance for profitable exploitation.