Aberfan Disaster

Treasure in the earth

The Romans liked to use gold to make beautiful jewellery and dishes. The Latin word for 'gold' is 'aurum' and the same word is used in Welsh – 'aur'. The letters indicating gold in the periodic table are AU.

• You can put all the gold that has ever been discovered in the world in one square box that would fit under the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
• Gold is a very soft metal. It's easy to work by hand.
• Some pieces used as coins are made of pure gold.
• When covering other metal with gold, only 0.05 mm is used.
• Gold was used for Olympic gold medals for the last time in 1912. Gold and silver medals are now made of 92.5% silver. Gold medals must be covered with at least 6 grams of gold.
• Gold is found in seawater, but it would cost more than the value of the gold to extract it.

Wales has been famous for gold mining over the centuries. Welsh gold is rare and expensive. Some flakes of Welsh gold were sold recently for £44,000!

There’s gold in them there hills

Some people think that finding precious metals such as gold in the ground is all about distant countries. But did you know that if you look closely, you can find gold in Wales?

Dolau Cothi

When the Romans came to Wales centuries ago, they found gold, and used the precious metal to make things like jewels, dishes and coins for buying and spending.

The place they found the gold is called Dolau Cothi. A number of valuable coins have been discovered in the area, and no doubt there are more that have not been discovered waiting there for someone to find them. They used sophisticated ways to find the gold. The Romans built a number of large water tanks to help them find the gold. You can still see the back of these tanks beside the River Gwenlais today. They collected the water in the tanks, then released it all to wash over the pebbles, washing away the dirt and mud. They could see any pieces of gold that were left behind.

Gwernymynydd

Another gold-rich area in Wales is around Dolgellau in north Wales. Gold mining began there around the year 1860, a few years after the gold rush in California. Visitors to the gold mine there today have the opportunity to pan for gold. 

To do this, you need to use some form of riddle to separate the gold from the stones.

Happy hunting…

2010 Copiapó Mining Accident

Chile is a country in South America. It is a country rich in minerals, especially copper. The Spanish came to conquer the country in the 16th century and before that the contry was ruled by the Inca.

It is a very diverse country in terms of climate, with areas of hot desert and other areas that are mountainous and cold.

It has a population of some 17,000,000 and its main language is Spanish.

Sebastián Piñera was president when a mining accident occurred in the country. He was present during the miners' rescue period and stayed at Camp Hope with the families waiting to greet all 33 as they wee freed. Camp Hope was the name given to the place where the families slept while waiting for their relatives. There was nothing to do in this place but wait and hope.

• Thirty-three men were trapped underground for 69 days.
• Theywererescued on 13 October 2010.
• They sent a message to their families saying they were OK.
• One man, Omar Reygadas, had 14 grandchildren. He was the seventeenth man to be rescued.
• One man, Samuel Avalos, was rescued by his brother-in-law.
• The name of the cage used to lift the miners from underground was 'Fénix 2'
• The name of the last miner rescued was Luis Uruza and he was the foreman. When he reached the surface, the Chilean President greeted him by saying "que buen jefe" which translates as "What a good boss!"

Barack Obama, the US president at the time, said that "the unity and determination of the Chilean people are an inspiration to the whole world”.

Gold rush – winners and losers

About a century and a half ago California was a quiet place, and not many people had heard of it. That all changed on 24 January 1848 when a man named James W. Marshall found gold there.

The news began to spread across the United States and then across the whole world. Around 300,000 people came in search of gold, trying to get rich.

Some people did become very rich, but others went home without a penny to their name. Before this rush for gold, San Fransisco was just a small village, with few people living there. But today, San Fransisco is one of the largest cities in the United States.

Roads, schools, hospitals and homes began to be built across California, and it was a very exciting and busy time. The system initially used was panning, which means using some kind of small pan in a river to separate the gold from the pebbles. As it became clear that there was a lot of gold there, the ways of digging for gold became more sophisticated, and heavy engineering was used.

But as with all developments of this kind, there were both winners and losers. Native Americans whose families had lived there for centuries were forced out.

Their lands were stolen so that white people could get the gold.