- 21/06/2025
Documentary, National Geographic-The Quest for Gold-part 2 of 2
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00:00this enormous army 80,000 warriors only 168 of them the Spaniards said we're in trouble there
00:13is no way that they would be able to resist the power of that army that lay before them
00:17were they frightened we know they were this was beyond anything that they could conceivably have
00:24expected Pizarro knows Atahualpa controls all the gold in the Empire if he can get his hands on the
00:42king he will have a treasure beyond reckoning vastly outnumbered Pizarro needs a cunning plan
00:50he sends an envoy to meet with Atahualpa
00:59but it sounded and had an idea in mind we're going to feign friendly relationships
01:10a relationship of mutuality between the Spaniards and the Incas
01:14the envoy carries out the first phase of Pizarro's plan
01:22he tells the Emperor the Spanish have come in the spirit of friendship he offers Atahualpa a military
01:33alliance Pizarro is an experienced explorer in the new world and has a translator to communicate with Atahualpa
01:45certain he has nothing to lose he agrees to meet Pizarro the next day
01:57Pizarro tells his men to prepare for battle
02:22Pizarro tells his men to prepare for battle.
02:29To them, it's a suicide mission.
02:32The Spanish soldiers said, we were terrified.
02:38They were afraid that the next day they were all going to die.
02:47To make sure all his soldiers are behind him, Pizarro does what great leaders do.
02:56He stages a pep rally.
02:58Pizarro spent the entire night telling his men, we're going to be successful, we're going
03:10to have a great conquest tomorrow, believe in me, trust me, we will succeed.
03:15Attawilpa arrives in full regalia, seated on a golden throne.
03:40Attawilpa arrives in full regalia, seated on a golden throne.
03:54Pizarro sends a priest to present the emperor with a prayer book.
04:07The Inca have no concept of books.
04:11This offering means little to Attawilpa.
04:14Pizarro says, in full regalia, in full regalia, pendling.
04:27Literally, they are chanting.
04:28To because this is the end of the building has been a good start, it is a good start, it is
04:30a great start.
04:30To because it is the end of the building has been a good start.
04:32To the canal, it is a great start.
04:33To the people who are notстро, it is a great start, it is a great start.
04:35The people who are not yet to be attacked by the side of the cliff wants you to
04:37to the camera through the door.
04:38The people who are not even under the world, it is a great start.
04:40Attackers!
04:41The cannons, the horses, other things the Incas have never seen before.
05:02And the 16th century weapon of mass destruction, Toledo steel.
05:08It cuts through just about anything.
05:12The Incas have little more than sticks and stones.
05:18Two hours later, 7,000 Inca warriors lie dead.
05:24The Spanish don't lose a single man.
05:38The once mighty king is now the prisoner of Francisco Pizarro.
05:50With the Inca god king as his hostage, Francisco Pizarro holds the key to the 130-year-old Inca empire.
05:57They captured the ruler, and as long as they held that ruler, they were impervious to any sort of attack.
06:11Negotiations begin to set the king's ransom.
06:14His gold for his life.
06:32This comes as a big surprise to the king.
06:34For the Inca, gold has no monetary value.
06:42The room where Atahualpa is held measures 17 by 22 feet.
06:49He agrees to fill it, literally, with gold.
06:53For the Incas, gold was an essential gift of the sun that would continue to be replenished,
07:10so long as they did things right in their relationships with the sun.
07:13For the Spaniards, gold was wealth.
07:15In a single month, the Spaniards collect five tons of it.
07:22More than the annual output of all the gold in Europe at that time.
07:26In all, Pizarro collects 24 tons of gold and silver.
07:32Almost a billion dollars worth at today's prices.
07:35The richest ransom in the history of the world.
07:39All the work of goldsmiths dating back a thousand years is now plunder.
07:46They were not interested in preservation of a cultural heritage.
07:51In fact, the whole cultural history was lost.
07:55They just wanted the gold.
07:59We have very, very few examples of Inca metal work, gold work, today.
08:08So that just goes to show what they were there for, totally money, and what they destroyed.
08:13A culture that didn't even have money.
08:17A brutal, brutal story.
08:24Pizarro keeps a few choice pieces to dazzle the Spanish court and distribute as gifts.
08:29For months, Pizarro has nine forges cooking round the clock.
08:46They melt down about 600 pounds of gold every day.
08:59The newly smelted ingots are stamped with the Spanish royal mark.
09:04The final act in the transformation of a culture into cash.
09:07The king of Spain is entitled to one-fifth of everything.
09:15Pizarro's cut would be worth more than $12 million today.
09:20Pizarro!
09:21Pizarro!
09:23Attawulpa more than fulfills his end of the bargain.
09:29Who are you?
09:31Pizarro has no intention of living up to his end of the deal.
09:35Pizarro!
09:36Pizarro!
09:40The Inca king is excess baggage.
09:42Pizarro!
09:43The Inca king is excess baggage.
09:50Pizarro!
09:52Pizarro!
09:53Pizarro!
09:55Pizarro!
09:59Pizarro!
10:01Pizarro!
10:03Pizarro!
10:04Let's go.
10:34It controls most of the gold in the New World.
10:49Over the next few decades, a river of Inca gold flows back to Europe in Spanish treasure
10:54fleets.
10:55At the end of the 16th century, the great Spanish century of looting.
11:01The amount of gold available at the end of that century is five times the amount of gold
11:08at the beginning.
11:11This money flowed into Europe and transformed the economy of Europe.
11:16Pizarro never gets to see what happened to any of his plundered gold.
11:27He's murdered nine years later in Peru in a squabble with a business rival.
11:31He lived by the sword and he died by the sword because the gold didn't bring them anything
11:37like happiness.
11:39Of that whole group, hardly any of them made it out alive.
11:46Francisco Pizarro was a simply ruthless character.
11:49He was just in charge of grand larceny.
11:53That was it.
12:01Gold has gone from culture to cash.
12:03So much gold flows into Spain that Shakespeare writes of it being used as a form of torture,
12:14melted and poured down the throats of those convicted of the most heinous crimes.
12:19Gold flowing from the New World into Spain helps to make it one of the most powerful countries
12:42in the world.
12:45Over the centuries, empires built on gold rise and fall, but our love for the precious
12:50metal never changes.
12:54Gold is special, and what makes it special is thousands of years of people wanting it.
13:01It probably is, in terms of symbols, the ultimate one there is.
13:07While many people love gold as an investment, most of the world's annual output is still doing
13:13what it does best, making a statement.
13:19I have a lot of people that like to wear gold.
13:23It makes them feel good.
13:25Whether it's a pin or whether it's a ring or a watch, there's always been a great status
13:31to gold.
13:32I mean, you look at my watch, it's gold.
13:35I want gold.
13:36I could have it silver, but I choose gold.
13:40All the celebrities now, everybody is gold crazy.
13:48Everyone is buying a lot of gold chains.
13:50Everyone is buying a lot of gold bracelets.
13:52Everything is with gold.
13:54A lot of the hip-hop culture guys, they are successful, and they want to let people know.
14:00When you get money, you want to exude your success.
14:06When you smile with your natural teeth, it's not as shiny.
14:09Some people want to show that their smile is a million-dollar smile.
14:13Designs may have changed, but the statement is the same.
14:21I've made it.
14:25Geoffrey Munn runs one of London's most prestigious antique jewelry shops.
14:30I quite like this necklace as well.
14:34Oh, that one.
14:35It's early 19th century, and it's made of all kinds of stunning gemstones.
14:40There are pink topazes, like rosewater here, and aquamarines, the color of the sea, and
14:45a rather strident peridot there, rubies, opals.
14:51It's a bouquet of gemstones, really, held in gold.
14:57A lot of people who own gold own it vicariously.
15:00They never see it.
15:01They own it like stocks and shares.
15:03But when it's conjoined with design and with superb craftsmanship in gold objects and in
15:11gold jewelry, then you're confronted with something that's not just a work of art.
15:15Its value is incalculable.
15:18Here we see a cigarette case by Carl Fabergé, goldsmith to the Imperial Court of Russia.
15:24And it's decorated with aubergine enamel, and little ties of diamonds in platinum.
15:32But the gold shines through, and the idea is that you'd offer your friends a cigarette
15:38from here, and they'd take it.
15:40Your Imperial Majesty, will you have a cigarette?
15:41Yes, please.
15:42And then you close this, and then open, find the matches in the lid, strike them on here,
15:48and while they were still alight, pull up the tinder and get this to glow.
15:55Anton Kata is on a quest to make beautiful gold jewelry.
16:01The Goldsmith Centre in London is the hub for anyone working with precious metals.
16:05Hey Anton.
16:09Today in his workshop, his apprentice Jen hones her skill on the most essential piece of them
16:15all.
16:16What we're doing is we're trying to make a formal wedding band, half a pea-shaped wedding
16:19band.
16:20This is some of the argument.
16:22On-the-job training is the only way to learn the trade.
16:25Perfect.
16:26So you're going to melt that all together in a crystal.
16:29First to soften it so it's workable, Jen heats the gold to about 2,000 degrees, then
16:37pours it into a mold.
16:41Jen uses essentially the same techniques as goldsmiths throughout history.
16:46The trick here is to work the gold while it's still warm.
16:53It's not that easy.
16:54Making a gold ring follows a very strict formula.
16:57You get your steps right and you follow them through, then it just flows and it can go quickly.
17:03But as soon as you struggle with a step, then you have to move back again.
17:07An apprentice's lot in life, try, try, and try again.
17:15All right, great.
17:16That's us.
17:17Yes.
17:18Do I stress that out?
17:19Yes.
17:20Yeah, you stressed out.
17:21You stressed this gold out.
17:22No, you just have to relax it again.
17:23Perfect.
17:24Now Jen can move forward.
17:25I am going to cut this through.
17:31Bring the two ends together.
17:32Check the rough size.
17:37Solder the ring together.
17:38Great.
17:39Well, that's almost there.
17:40Yeah.
17:41Right, let me do the last little step of getting the round.
17:43Okay.
17:44Nothing that's shaved goes to waste.
17:45It's remelted and used in another piece.
17:46Okay.
17:47Let me do the last little step of getting the round.
18:04Okay.
18:05Nothing that's shaved goes to waste.
18:09It's remelted and used in another piece.
18:14A perfect gold band.
18:17The symbol of eternal love.
18:20Perfect.
18:22The next step is the assay.
18:27A test to confirm the quality of the gold.
18:31If it's up to scratch, Anton will be able to get a hallmark.
18:36A hallmark guarantees customers they're getting the quality of the gold they paid for.
18:42A centuries old form of consumer protection.
18:45In London, the place for that is Goldsmiths Hall.
18:51Just like to give that in for special service.
18:58For 700 years, Goldsmiths Hall has been putting its stamp of approval on gold jewelry.
19:04That's where the word hallmark comes from.
19:07The hall where they put on the mark.
19:10Every day, over 12,000 pieces of gold flow through here seeking that precious mark.
19:16For 43 years, Dave Mary has been making his mark here.
19:21Moulded.
19:24It's about a traceability and about a provenance.
19:27In 200 years time, when you're obviously dead and gone,
19:30somebody can pick up a piece of your work.
19:32They know exactly who made it.
19:34They know exactly what the standard is.
19:36And that's the really fantastic thing about it.
19:37And hopefully, long may it rain.
19:39Dave teaches young assayers the craft.
19:44When they finish their apprenticeship, they will formally be known as
19:49Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths.
19:53Anton's ring is put to the test.
19:56Technology thousands of years old is the way to tell if jewelry that glitters is really gold.
20:05Tradition lives on at London's Goldsmiths Hall.
20:08Goldsmith Anton Cata hopes a wedding ring he's made gets a hallmark.
20:12A consumer guarantee 700 years old.
20:17When an assayer scratches gold across a stone tablet, a touchstone,
20:21it leaves a distinctive yellow mark.
20:24That means it's up to scratch.
20:28The ancients used the same technology.
20:31Yep, looks okay.
20:33I'd say that's a pass, wouldn't you?
20:35Yep.
20:36That's great.
20:37Yeah, that's fantastic.
20:38Yep, 18k.
20:39I'll take that.
20:41This is that Anton Carter ring.
20:44The ring gets its hallmark.
20:46Excellent.
20:48Is that alright?
20:50Yeah, that's fine.
20:51That's great.
20:52Thanks.
20:53Anton will be pleased with that.
20:54Great.
20:55Gold has been recycled so many times that any piece of gold you buy technically could have
21:04started off life with the Monones or the Incas or the ancient Egyptians.
21:11Gold is probably the most oldest form of recycling there is known to man.
21:16Because it's that same product it's going round and round and round.
21:19Not every piece gets a hallmark.
21:21Two of the rings are coming up below.
21:24Alright, okay.
21:25Oh yeah.
21:26I see what you mean.
21:27The surface of this ring appears to be gold.
21:30To find out if it's pure gold, the assayer applies a chemical similar to the original acid
21:37test.
21:38If you use the silver sulphate on there as well, the base one should go black and the
21:44gold ones will remain the same.
21:46A tiny mark from the ring turns black.
21:49It's not pure gold.
21:52However, the touchstone method can't tell an assayer what that metal is.
21:59They need an x-ray.
22:01Craftsmen love the process because obviously it gives kudos to their work as such.
22:07It guarantees that when they're selling something onto the consumer, the consumer's got a certain
22:12amount of trust in place.
22:14This technology costs a lot more than the $200 touchstone, but it's worth it to guarantee
22:20that trust.
22:23One piece of copper.
22:25Packet now.
22:26Phone the customer and inform them that there's his base metal ring in amongst his nine carat
22:31rings.
22:33Fantastic.
22:34No hallmark for this piece.
22:36And sometimes failure is a very sad story.
22:39I've had guys here standing at our counter crying their eyes out because they've invested
22:44their entire life savings on pieces of jewelry they thought were pretty good, but they're actually
22:49not at all.
22:52Real gold offers unique security in troubled times, and some will take advantage of that.
22:58When something goes wrong somewhere in the world, people flock to gold because gold is
23:03something you can hold in your hand and will retain value because people prize it for its beauty,
23:11its transcendence.
23:13people want gold, and people have done crazy things in order to get it.
23:20Spring, 1864.
23:23After three years of bloodshed, war-weary Americans pray the Civil War will end soon.
23:29Read all about it.
23:32Then, two New York newspapers report that President Lincoln has drafted an additional
23:39400,000 men.
23:42The news means the war is far from over.
23:45Lincoln to draft for us.
23:47Share prices drop as investors rush to the old safe haven.
23:51Gold.
23:52The price quickly rises.
23:55To a lot of people, gold is a religion.
23:58It's not so much a commodity as an article of faith that it's the only real money.
24:11The man behind the story is newspaper editor Joseph Howard Jr.
24:17President Lincoln never issued an order to draft 400,000 men and demands an investigation
24:24to find out where the story came from.
24:26Days later, police show up at Howard's office.
24:42Turns out, Howard's heavily invested in gold.
24:50He sells it at a handsome profit, taking advantage of the gold craze his story causes.
24:57People can plant stories in the newspaper or post things on blogs to generate fluctuations in the market.
25:06People can profit off of that.
25:09Howard confesses, spends three months in jail, and is released in the summer of 1864.
25:20Joseph Howard's hoax and the resulting stampede to gold demonstrate our enduring belief that gold can see us through hard times.
25:30Seventy years later, the United States is facing hard times again.
25:35The Great Depression.
25:37By 1933, the economy in the U.S. has collapsed.
25:42President Franklin Roosevelt tries to calm the country.
25:46The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
25:52Roosevelt himself has reason to be afraid.
25:56He wants to print more money to combat the Depression.
26:00But he's limited by the amount of gold the government has.
26:03Roosevelt makes a bold decision.
26:06Something he knows will increase the U.S. Treasury's gold supply.
26:11A couple of days after he's inaugurated, he signs one of the most reviled documents among gold buyers and hoarders.
26:22The infamous 1933 Executive Order 6102 forces citizens to hand over their gold.
26:33In return, they would be compensated in dollars.
26:37So you can't own gold as a private citizen.
26:42You can have a ring.
26:44If it's in your teeth, they won't come and get it.
26:47But anything else, gold coins that you have in your safe deposit box, gold bars, you are not allowed to have those anymore.
26:55You must turn them in to the government.
26:58Anyone who doesn't is labeled a hoarder, faces a $10,000 fine, and up to 10 years in prison.
27:05Here we are in the land of the free and the home of the brave, but look what the government can do.
27:09It can order you to bring in your gold.
27:11The people who didn't like it were sort of the very wealthy people.
27:14It's been called the Great Gold Robbery of 1933.
27:19People want gold for one very specific reason.
27:25Beyond wealth, security.
27:27It gives them great security.
27:31Over the next few years, the government takes in over $3 billion worth of gold.
27:37By law, this allows them to print $8 billion in cash, worth about $140 billion today.
27:46Tons of confiscated gold melted down into ingots.
27:51Now the government needs a place to stash all that gold.
27:58It chooses the U.S. Army post of Fort Knox near Louisville, Kentucky.
28:06The first shipments arrive in January 1937.
28:12Deep underground, the gold vault lies behind a massive bomb-proof door.
28:17Nearly two feet thick and weighing 20 tons.
28:22Fort Knox becomes the world's most famous bullion depository.
28:28The fact that Fort Knox is this symbol of safe and secure is an indication of how valuable gold is.
28:37If you wanted to make a movie about the great crime of the century, it would be trying to get the gold out of Fort Knox.
28:43In 1971, someone was trying to get the gold out of Fort Knox.
28:48Not with a gun, but with the contents of this briefcase.
28:52When President Nixon comes to power in 1969, the United States is once again facing a financial crisis.
29:07A run on the gold that could empty the vaults of Fort Knox.
29:11The government needs gold to back its currency.
29:15In Washington, a dollar bill is literally worth one-thirty-fifth of an ounce of gold.
29:21There's too many dollars and not enough gold to cover them.
29:25President Nixon is in a bind.
29:28The U.S., in a sense, was like a bank that overexpanded.
29:31You know, we promised to convert paper dollars into gold.
29:35And so foreigners say, hey, the Americans don't really have enough gold to honor their promise to pay these dollars.
29:40So they started asking for the gold.
29:45On Monday, August 9th, 1971, an official from the Bank of England arrives in Washington.
29:52In his briefcase, a financial bomb.
29:56Orders to redeem $3 billion worth of gold.
30:00President Nixon fears this could set off an exodus of gold.
30:05A few days later, he secretly summons his economic advisers to Camp David.
30:19He warns them, tell no one of their whereabouts, not even their wives.
30:24Gentlemen, I gathered all of you here today.
30:26They agree he needs to do something before the markets open on Monday.
30:30But what?
30:32Friday afternoon, Nixon tells them his plan.
30:36A series of dramatic measures sure to shake up the economic landscape.
30:42Not everyone is on board.
30:45By Saturday afternoon, the decision is made.
30:48Now the tough part.
30:50Selling it to the American public and the world.
30:53More like a screenplay than a speech.
31:02Every word is carefully crafted.
31:08Nixon waits for updates as advisers argue and speechwriters type.
31:13Then on Sunday evening, August 15th, 1971, Nixon announces his new economic policy to the nation.
31:26Bonanza, normally seen at this time, will be shown in its entirety immediately after a special report from NBC News.
31:34Good evening.
31:35The time has come for a new economic policy for the United States.
31:41I have directed Secretary Connolly to suspend temporarily the convertibility of the dollar into gold or other reserve assets,
31:49except in amounts and conditions determined to be in the interest of monetary stability and in the best interest of the United States.
31:56I am determined that the American dollar must never again be a hostage in the hands of international speculators.
32:05The U.S. will stop backing its money with gold.
32:10It will stop giving gold for dollars.
32:13The move comes to be known as the Nixon shock.
32:17When Nixon closed the gold window, gold really did cease to be money.
32:22It was still a very important commodity and people watched the price fluctuate, but it really ceased to be money.
32:28It represented a major change because people had believed that we should anchor our monetary systems in a precious metal.
32:40Well, this is a new world now. We don't know how it's going to work out.
32:44From now on, the U.S. dollar will float, its value determined by the world market.
32:52Gold morphs into phantom money.
32:54It no longer has any connection to hard currency.
33:04Twelve years after the Nixon shock, some crooks find that out the hard way in one of the greatest robberies in history.
33:15November 26th, 1983.
33:17This is a big day for Anthony Black, but he's late for work. He slept in.
33:27Black is a security guard at the Brink's Mat Security Company near Heathrow Airport, London.
33:32The company warehouses valuable goods from around the world in its vaults.
33:51Things aren't going well for Black.
33:52His personal life is falling apart.
33:57He's in debt and hounded by creditors.
34:02Things at work aren't much better.
34:05He's not exactly a model employee.
34:07Sorry, never slept.
34:08Where else is now?
34:09Minutes after arriving, Black heads to a loading bay.
34:14Black heads to a loading bay.
34:15Uh...
34:16Oh...
34:19What's the name?
34:21...
34:22Minutes after arriving, Black heads to a loading bay.
34:52The men he lets in are professional thieves.
35:06The ringleaders are Bryan Robinson, Black's brother-in-law, a veteran armed robber, and
35:11Mickey McAvoy, who's an up-and-comer in the London underworld.
35:15They're about to steal more than $4 million in cash sitting in the Brinksmack vault.
35:35All Black has to do is play along when the action starts.
35:393 Hours
35:504 Hours
35:514 Hours
35:584 Hours
36:045 Hours
36:05Let's get him behind your hands, you guys!
36:07Shut up!
36:09You want to get him behind your hands?
36:11What are you doing here?
36:13What are you doing here?
36:15What are you doing here?
36:17Close ponds right now.
36:19What are you doing?
36:20Are you doing it?
36:22Are you doing it?
36:23Are you doing it?
36:24You're doing it!
36:25Sit with you now, guys!
36:26Close ponds!
36:27Don't sit with you!
36:28Oh, shit!
36:29Come on!
36:30Make his head!
36:31Hurry up!
36:32Make it you do it!
36:33Make it this message!
36:34the robbers know which guards have the codes to the vault black has already told
36:41them they just need them to share the information
36:45three one four one five nine two six thank you
37:15inside the vault no four million dollars in cash just a stack of boxes
37:45boxes full of gold
38:09every villain's dream
38:13a hall worth almost 10 times the hall they were hoping for
38:20and it weighs a whole lot more
38:26seven thousand pounds in all enough to bottom out the springs on the van and nearly snap the axle
38:38in less than two hours they've pulled off the biggest heist in british history
38:55they have a big problem if it had been paper currency that they'd found in there you just
39:02count it out hand everybody a wad of dough and that's the end of it they have a situation
39:08how do you turn three and a half tons of gold into cash that you can spend at the pub
39:15it's the biggest robbery in british history this morning a gang of armed robbers made off with 26
39:22million pounds of gold bullion from the brinksmatt warehouse outside heathrow scotland yard is leading
39:28the hunt and said there is no doubt the men had inside information gold is not money it's not easy to negotiate it's not the kind of market that a bunch of hoods can pull up to in a truck and just get rid of their gold for paper they weren't masterminds
39:47robinson and mcavoy are way out of their league what do you do with six thousand eight hundred bars of stolen gold
40:02enter kenneth noy known in the london papers as a multi-millionaire gangland killer
40:09kenneth mate noy is a true criminal mastermind well well what the cat dragged in that was you if anyone can figure out how to turn this gold into cash
40:22it's him
40:24noy begins by performing a little alchemy in reverse
40:34noy's associates melt down the gold ingots into small batches and mix in a few copper coins
40:44the gold turns into scrap
40:50it's a clever disguise
40:52the gold is now low-grade alloy that's untraceable
40:56noy can launder it through the gold for cash market
41:04without attracting any attention
41:06at least that's the plan
41:12scotland yard zeroes in on anthony black
41:21came out
41:22foreman burst into the room and they were waving the pistols around
41:26we'll prepare for him
41:29they were just
41:31for random men that were they mr black
41:36oh
41:38what do you mean
41:40well your sister
41:41they know black's sister is married to one of the gang members brian robinson
41:46they hammer away at him and after eight hours black confesses to everything
41:52mcavoy and robinson are arrested and eventually sentenced to 25 years
41:59but where is the gold
42:02meanwhile when 20 million dollars is deposited into a bank in bristol
42:08it gets noticed
42:17for his part noy gets 14 years and the gold about a third of the hall was laundered the rest valued at close to half a billion dollars is still missing
42:30out there somewhere
42:32half of the engagement rings and wedding rings sold in england from the time of the brink's mat robbery till today contain at least some brink's mat gold
42:44that's the thing about gold as soon as you melt it it could be anybody's gold
42:50gold never really disappears it came here long before us and will be here long after we're gone
42:59i think we'll always love gold it gives you such a positive energy and it makes you feel good it's something of magical
43:08our lust for gold comes at a price
43:12almost every proposed new mine draws protest
43:16there are environmental consequences particularly in the less regulated
43:21developing world
43:23the release of mercury used in some places to separate gold from rock can have deadly effects
43:29cyanide and sulfuric acid has leaked into the water tables with devastating results
43:37environmentalists keep pushing for more regulations to curb irresponsible practices
43:44the u.s geological survey estimates there are only 54 000 tons of gold yet to be found on planet earth
43:53experts claim we're only 20 years away from mining all of the world's gold
43:58so we've started looking for gold under the seabed
44:02the chinese who have an insatiable appetite for gold have a fleet of underwater prospecting vessels and have already acquired the rights to certain areas of the seabed in the indian ocean
44:19conservationists worry about deep sea mining contaminating surface waters with residual mineral particles
44:26how will that affect fissures and coastal residents some in the industry claim it's safer cleaner and more environmentally friendly than its terrestrial counterpart
44:36the quest doesn't stop there
44:43companies are also looking to mine the heavens
44:48we know something about the geology of this and we have little rovers crawling around mars as we speak and we can think about exploring for gold
44:55astronomers have discovered a planet in the milky way made largely of diamonds is there a solid gold one out there it's hard to envision
45:10but that doesn't mean that somewhere in the future i'm sure christopher columbus couldn't imagine a car or an airplane so our imagination really is the fundamental limit
45:17whether we mine gold underwater or somewhere in space one thing is certain we are as desperate to find it now as ever it's gold and we humans can't resist it
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