Sep 5 2006
The World Gold Council (WGC) and the University of Limerick announce today the commencement of Gold 2006, the fourth in a series of global conferences bringing together over 300 researchers in academia and industry from 30 countries around the world, to learn of and discuss the development of new industrial applications for gold.
The field of gold science and technology continues to undergo an exciting period of discovery as the unique properties of gold are exploited for industrial applications, rather than its monetary value or desirability. Gold has a diverse range of industrial uses and is currently utilised in electronics, dental, medical, chemical industries and, most recently, in areas such nanotechnology and catalysis.
Gold 2006 is a three day event hosted and located at the University of Limerick and co-organised by the World Gold Council. The conference brings together global leaders from both science and industry with the objective of furthering progress toward the realisation of new industrial uses for gold.
Delivering a keynote presentation at the conference will be, among others, Solaris Nanosciences, a US-based company who are currently developing the use of anisotropic gold nanorod technology for improved Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs). These nanoscale rod structures, or nanorods, when incorporated into liquid crystals are expected to improve viewing performance of displays in televisions, mobile phones and cameras. The same technology could help to restore the vision of people suffering from retinal diseases.
Other companies presenting at Gold 2006 include 3M and chemical company Degussa who will be discussing the current use of gold-containing catalysts for the production of the chemical feedstock, vinyl acetate monomer.
Commenting on the event, Richard Holliday, Head of Industrial Applications, World Gold Council, said: “Gold 2006 is a continuation of a series of highly successful, global events which began in 1996 in Hanau, Germany. We are extremely pleased with the depth and breadth of participants at this year’s conference and eagerly anticipate the productive relationships and exchange of information that will take place. The World Gold Council believes that by supporting research into the role gold can play in new technologies, it will help to raise awareness of its unique properties and boost industrial demand for gold in the long-term”.
Vice-Chairman of the International Organizing Committee and Professor of Industrial Chemistry at the University of Limerick is Professor Julian Ross. " We are very privileged to have been selected to hold the fourth meeting in this series on the campus of the University of Limerick, with the previous conferences having been held in Cape Town and Vancouver. I believe that our successful bid to host the meeting was a result of our having run the very highly praised Europacat V on behalf of the European Federation of Catalysis Societies here in 2001 with more than 1000 delegates."
Gold is used in industrial applications and processes because of its technical properties, rather than its monetary value or desirability. Typical annual offtake runs at between 350 and 450 tonnes per annum which equates to 10% of annual demand for gold.