Gold Deposits—Placers

Placer deposits provided early man with the first samples of gold and thereafter have accounted for a large production of the metal. If we include the Witwatersrand and other quartz-pebble conglomerates as fossil placers or modified placers, the placer type of auriferous deposit has provided more than two thirds of the world’s store of gold, about 80 × 109 grams (2.6 × 109 oz).