The early years

 

Gold Bulletin is a premier scientific journal, focused on gold science, technology and its applications and is published quarterly. It dates back to the year 1968. The first issue, published in January 1968 by the Chamber of Mines of South Africa, consisted entirely of a selection of literature and patent abstracts. It was introduced with these words:

 

“Technological research in various countries has shown that, despite the relative cost of gold, it has certain unique properties which can be put to use in numerous fields.

In an effort to assist and stimulate developments in this direction, the Chamber of Mines of South Africa is issuing a quarterly bulletin of selected abstracts from the technical literature on gold”

 

In 1971, the Chamber of Mines, representing the major South African gold mining companies, set up the International Gold Corporation Ltd (‘Intergold’) as an associate company to provide marketing and financial support in the worldwide promotion of gold. At the same time, Gold Bulletin broadened its scope to include technical articles, many of which were oriented towards the technology and applications of gold. The President of the Chamber of Mines introduced this new format (now with coloured illustrations) with the following comment:

 

“ Experience has demonstrated the usefulness of this service and there is every indication that an expansion would be welcomed. There has been, moreover, a sharpening of interest in the uses of gold in industry.

The launching of this new venture comes at an exciting time in gold’s long history….. At the same time, industry’s need of it [gold] is growing impressively as research and development indicate new ways in which economic advantage may be taken of its unique properties”

 

The first editor of Gold Bulletin was Dr Leslie Hunt of Johnson Matthey plc in the UK who edited the journal from its inception in 1968 to 1977, when he retired. At this time, Intergold took over publication of Gold Bulletin from the Chamber of Mines.

 

In 1987, Intergold transformed to became the World Gold Council, supported by the international gold mining companies and headquartered in Geneva. It took over responsibility for publication of Gold Bulletin, edited by Dr Parn Taimsalu, which continued to publish scientific and technical papers as well as occasional historic articles of general interest and patent & literature abstracts.

 

The electronic era

 

The next change took place in 1996 when editorial responsibility was taken by Dr Christopher W Corti, based at World Gold Council in London, ably assisted by Dr David T Thomson as technical editor. The journal was upgraded, focused more on publication of the latest research, and continued to be distributed free. In 1998, the journal entered the electronic era and became available on the World Gold Council website (current issues) as well as the printed version, all available to download free. Dr Patricia Harris took over as technical editor in 2002.

 

A major change occurred in 2005 when Gold Bulletin went entirely electronic and was published on its own website, www.goldbulletin.org . Printed versions ceased. This has enabled the journal to increase in size and reach a larger and growing readership. The archive of back issues was also placed on the website, so enabling ready access to the complete set of volumes published to date.

 

In 2007, the journal celebrated its 40th year of continuous publication. At the same time, the gold catalysis newsletter, CatGold News (published separately from 2003), was incorporated into Gold Bulletin and this was followed by the new NanoTech Gold News newsletter serving the nanotechnology community later that year. These newsletters have since been combined into the journal’s new blog - Gold Innovations. Dr Richard Holliday is the current Editor of Gold Bulletin.

 

Format

 

Over its long history, Gold Bulletin has undergone several changes of publication style, typified by its various front covers, a selection of which is shown in the accompanying illustrations.