As gold coin makers, we get to work with one of the most amazing materials in the Universe.

Here are 12 astonishing features we’ve found cited about precious gold:

·         Gold is made in supernovas – massive cosmic explosions that hurl out materials which gather together to form planets.

·         Most of Earth’s gold is buried too deep to be recoverable.

·         Gold nearer the surface is the result of meteorites storms that bombarded Earth after it was formed.

·         The abundance of gold in the Earth’s crust is 0.004 parts per million.

·         The world’s oceans are estimated to hold up to 15,000 tonnes of gold.

·         Since the dawn of humankind, less than 172,000 tonnes of gold have ever been mined.

·         Every ounce of recovered gold would fit into a box of 20 cubic metres.

·         These days, it is not unusual for 10 or more tonnes of rock to be mined to get 1oz of gold.

·         Gold is extraordinarily dense – a cubic foot weighs half a ton, making it almost twice as heavy as lead.

·         Gold is highly malleable and ductile – 1oz of pure gold can be beaten into a sheet measuring nine square metres or drawn into a wire 80 kilometres long.

·         Gold nanoparticles thousands of times smaller than the diameter of a human hair are used in medicine.

·         The average human body contains 7 milligrams of gold.