Mining
Since gold is found in rock below the Earth's surface, it must be removed from the ground. The oldest way to collect gold is through panning, which involves shaking stream water—by hand—through wide, shallow pans filled with sand that may contain gold. Have you heard of the California Gold Rush? It happened in 1848, when some 300,000 gold-seekers came to California from around the world to try to find gold in this way.
Modern mining uses a lot more than luck! First, geologists use the latest technology— such as pictures taken from satellites and studying the Earth's crust—to locate gold deposits. Computers are then used to design the mine, which requires precise and accurate measurement of the gold deposit. Construction begins following the long process of applying for and receiving mining permits. Then the mining begins.
Hard Rock Mining
Miners drill and dig into rock using heavy equipment and blast into it with explosives, looking for rock with gold minerals in it. While much of the world's gold is mined in this way, this method also uses the most energy.
Hydraulic Mining
Another method for recovering gold from the ground, hydraulic mining is used in places where there is a lot of loose gravel, sand, and soil that may contain gold, giant water hoses are used to create a heavy stream of water that washes loose gravel into a kind of a wooden trough. Since gold is heavier than most other materials, it sinks to the bottom of the sluice, while dirt, rocks, and even other metals-do not. Hydraulic mining can damage the environment, creating erosion damage at the mining site and mud in streams below.
Open Pit Mining
This mining method is the preferred in Chukotka, Russia. Open pit mining is a form of surface mining used where gold is just below the surface of the Earth, and is removed from a big open hole that is made into the ground. This method is also used when tunneling would be dangerous, like when the ground is made out of sand or gravel. Miners will continue making the hole bigger, until all of the gold has been collected from the pit. Once the pit is emptied of its gold, it can be converted to a landfill, where waste is collected.
Once gold ore has been brought up to the surface, truck operators collect and deliver the ore for processing ...
Cyanide Processing
The most common way to get gold out of rock is through cyanide processing. When super-tiny pieces of gold are found in rocks, they are broken into small chunks and mixed with a solution of sodium cyanide, which causes things to break down. As the cyanide solution does its work, gold dust is dissolved from the rock. This solution containing the dissolved gold is then separated; the gold is collected from the chemical solution for further processing, and the cyanide is recycled.
High grade ore is delivered to a grinding mill where the rock is pulverized to a powder, and the gold is recovered. The cyanide technique may also be used to process high grade ore.
What is controversial about cyanide processing is that it is dangerous to people, animals, and the environment—cyanide is very poisonous. An entire ecosystem could be destroyed if the chemicals used in gold processing were to escape. If the solutions get into the soil, plants will absorb the cyanide-bearing solutions. The cyanide then collects in the plants, which will kill the animals that eat it. Only careful planning and safe handling of these dangerous chemicals will prevent this scary problem.
Once the gold pulled out of the rock, it goes through more processing until it becomes pure gold shaped into bars that are 99.9% pure gold.
Reclamation
This is the last step in responsible mining where efforts are made to 'reclaim the land.' In the United States reclaimed land is most often left to be crop and grazing land, wildlife habitats, wetlands and recreation areas. Explore reclamation in the US using the links below!
People involved in reclamation 
Source courtesy of: http://en.wikipedia.org, http://www.nma.org
