There are many places were finding gold is a common occurrence.

There
are two categories for gold found in nature. The first is primary and the other is
secondary. Primary gold is often what is found in rock formations, which
ultimately become mines if there is a substantial amount of gold. For these types
of gold, it is highly likely that the gold will be found alongside other valuable
minerals, like quartz and silver. Many mining companies that sell gold from their
mining efforts will also sell the other minerals as well.
Secondary gold is found in small waterways that have run through these
rock and mineral formations. When the current is strong enough for streams,
rivers and creeks to accomplish it, the water will carry pieces of gold, often
referred to as small nuggets or flakes, down through the path. As the gold is
carried from the formation down the waterway, pieces settle on the beds or floors
and eventually get covered in dirt and sand. While it is a little uncommon, some
people have found rather large nuggets of gold panning these waterways.
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Solvent extraction is a common form of chemical extraction using organic
solvent as the extractant. It is commonly used in combination with other
technologies, such as solidification/stabilization, precipitation and electrowinning.
Solvent extraction is a selective separation procedure for isolating and
concentrating a valuables metals from an aqueous solutions with the aid of an
organic solution. In the procedure the aqueous solution containing the metal of
interest, often at a low concentration and together with other dissolved substances,
is mixed (extraction) with an organic solvent containing a reagent. The metal of
interest reacts with the reagent to form a chemical compound, which is more
soluble in the organic than in the aqueous solution. As a consequence, the
substance of interest is transferred to the organic solution
Subsequently, in order to recover the extracted substance, the organic
solution is mixed (stripping) with an aqueous solution whose composition is such
that the chemical compound between the metal and the reagent is split and, thus,
the metal is recovered in the "new" aqueous solution, in a pure form. The
concentration of the metal in the "new" aqueous solution may be increased, often

to 10-100 times that of the original aqueous solution, through adjustment of the
liquid flow rates. The organic solution is returned for further extraction, either
directly or after a fraction of it has been cleansed of impurities.

Process
Solvent extraction (SX) is a mass transfer operation and the technique used in
metallurgical industry for selective extraction of metal ions from an aqueous
solution. During the process, the desired metal ion is both purified and
concentrated. An extractant capable of binding metal ions is dissolved in an
organic kerosene type diluent. The extractant has an active hydrophilic group
bound to a long chain hydrocarbon molecule in order to reduce solubility in the
organic phase. The organic phase is then intensively mixed with the metal-bearing
aqueous solution (feed) allowing the metal ions to bind to the extractant. The
aqueous and organic phases are then allowed to separate and the wanted metal ion
is now transferred to the organic phase. The extracted metal ion is then backextracted (stripped) into a new aqueous phase in a pure and concentrated form.
Ideally, only the desired metal transfers selectively from the aqueous phase to the
organic phas