>> current gold prices of about $US650/gram

> $650/ounce, I think...  (not clear WHICH kind of ounce, though.)

Whoops - yes :-).

That makes the gold content of seawater about $US0.04 / metre^3.

Anyone who finds this thread in the slightest way interesting really 
should read or skim the original article (I've only done the latter). 
They say that some people think that most of the world's "placer gold" 
(at 98% pure) was concentrated and deposited by microorganisms, and 
they explain why. *IF* this is the case, then the prospects of 
developing some creature to do it from seawater look higher. This sort 
of development attempt is liable to be what destroys us all as a side 
effect :-). (Placer gold occurs in hollow tubes about ?1 (?100) micron 
across. This structure is not obvious to the eye.

I wonder if the brine concentrated byproducts of desalination plants 
have a greatly increased gold content.



        Russell 

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