 Before 1974, the price of gold was $35/oz. Now it's about $380 (at the time this article was written.) The world leader in gold production was the old USSR with about 300 metric tons produced annually. (USA - 134 metric tons annually) One cubic foot of gold weighs about 1,206 lbs. There are an estimated 9 billion metric tons of gold in the oceans of the world. Gold melts at 1,945.4 degrees Fahrenheit and boils at 2,966.0 degrees Fahrenheit. Gold ore with as little as 1 part gold to 300,000 parts of worthless material can be mined at a profit. One of the largest gold nuggets ever found was turned up by a wagon wheel in Australia (1869) and weighed 159 lbs. ($966,720 current value). About 1 oz of gold can be drawn into a wire 0.000005 inch thick and 62 miles long.  References:
The following books will add much detail about Spanish exploration and gold mining in southern Utah. Non-Fiction Herring, Dean F.
1989 From Lode to Dust, 2nd edition
Herring Publishers. Eugene, Oregon Thompson, George A.
1992 Lost Treasures on the Old Spanish Trail, 3rd edition.
Western Epics.
Salt Lake City, Utah Utley, Merill G. (Doe)
1992 The Ghosts of Gold Mountain.
Published by author. Sevier, Utah Fiction Nelson, Lee
1994 Storm Gold
Council Press, Mapleton, Utah.
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