Gold dates from the time of the supernova explosion that gave birth to our solar system. When it was created, the Earth included a tiny percentage of gold atoms, and over the aeons geologic processes.
Gold mining in the United States has taken place continually since the discovery of gold at the Reed farm in North Carolina in 1799. The first documented occurrence of gold was in Virginia in 1782. Some minor gold production took place in North Carolina as early as 1793, but created no excitement. The discovery on the Reed farm in 1799 which was identified as gold in 1802 and subsequently mined marked the first commercial production.
The large scale production of gold started with the California Gold Rush in 1848.
The closure of gold mines during World War II by the War Production Board Limitation Order No. 208 in autumn 1942 was a major impact on the production until the end of the war.
US gold production greatly increased during the 1980s, due to high gold prices and the use of heap leaching to recover gold from disseminated low-grade deposits in Nevada and other states.
In 2019 the United States produced 200 tonnes (6.4 million troy ounces) of gold (down from 210 tonnes in 2018) from 12 states, worth about US$8.9 billion, and 6.1% of world production, making it the fourth-largest gold-producing nation, behind China, Australia and Russia. Most gold produced today in the US comes from large open-pit heap leach mines in the state of Nevada. The US is a net exporter of gold.
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