World Gold Research Articles

Gold, and lots of it

I wrote a short editorial last quarter on some of the work we have been doing at the World Gold Council to promote how important gold is in the field of medical diagnostics. Obviously, the metal is used in such minute quantities in these types of applications, it barely registers as gold at all in many minds. However, the samemost certainly cannot be said of the Bank of England gold vaults here in London. Many of these enormous, highly secure repositories exist around the world, but it is very rare you get a chance to actually see inside them. However, recently, the Bank of England released an app “that lets you explore the famous Threadneedle Street building in the heart of the City of London” (see http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/Pages/info/ virtualtourapp.aspx). This was designed on the back of a visit made to the vault by the Queen and allows everyone to visualise the gold and how it is stored. Whilst this app is good, I believe a group of researchers at the University of Nottingham have managed to do something even better. If you have not heard of the “periodic table of videos” before, I implore you to take five minutes and have a look (http://www.periodicvideos.com/). Led by Nottingham stalwarts Professor Martyn Poliakoff and video journalist Brady Haran, the team of Nottingham scientists have bought the elements to life via these beautifully shot, informative videos. Now, obviously I am biased, but their effort with gold certainly deserves a special mention. As I mentioned above, these types of location are incredibly difficult to access for obvious reasons. Professor Poliakoff spent many months obtaining the necessary permissions, and I am very glad he did as the video is both utterly unique and informative. You can view it here http://www.periodicvideos.com/videos/079. htm. As Professor Poliakoff says at the beginning of his video, gold displays some fascinating chemistry, and that is where our main interest as scientists lies. Our third issue of the year carries a nice range of nanotechnology-focused manuscripts, ranging from new preparative methods for nanoparticles to antimicrobial applications, and new electrocatalysts. However, if you are also interested in learning more about gold generally, and the role it plays in society in the twenty-first century, please visit our new “Advanced by gold”material at a www.gold.org/advanced_by_gold. Here, we present information on the shift in demand for gold from West to East, the role gold mining plays in developing economies, the use of gold by central bankers, gold's role in providing financial security and gold's use in cutting-edge health care applications. As always, I welcome any feedback you have about the journal, and I hope you enjoy issue 3 of 2013.

Witwatersrand gold: discovery matters

Descriptions of the Witwatersrand goldfields have invoked superlatives around themes including great wealth, huge depths, giant mines and innovative engineering. After its discovery in 1886 and further discoveries in the 1930s and 1940s, the Witwatersrand dominated world gold peaking at 1000 t Au production in 1970. There has been a steady production decline since 1970, and, although the trend is clear in hindsight, few people predicted the seriousness of the fall in production or the grave situation of the industry today. The annual decline of Witwatersrand production has averaged 20 t of gold per year since 1994; at this rate, Witwatersrand gold mining will end in mid-2022. The forty-year production decline is attributed here to exploration failure as there has been no new goldfield discovered since Evander in 1951. A lesson from many of the world’s great goldfields is that, where much gold has been discovered, there remains opportunity for repeats and additions by using new ideas and technologies. Future Witwatersrand exploration could adopt multiple working hypotheses rather than a single exploration model, introduce high-level geoscience training that is appropriate for a range of potential exploration models and strategies, and encourage a mindset in which discovery becomes both imperative for the whole community and an all-guiding passion. New exploration models open new opportunities not considered and tested over the last 60 years.

What Happened in Roanoke: Ralph Lane’s Narrative Incursion

What Happened in RoanokeRalph Lane’s Narrative Incursion Kathleen Donegan (bio) Writing from the “new Fort in Virginia” in September 1585, colonial governor Ralph Lane proclaimed he was on “the goodliest soile under the cope of heaven” (Quinn 210, 207). If it were to be fully possessed by Englishmen, he projected, “no realme in Christendome were comparable to it” (208). But the following June, he and his company frantically pulled up stakes and returned to England, trailing a wake of violence behind them. Shoreside, their onetime hosts were shocked, incensed, and deeply set on reprisal. What drove the colony out so precipitously? To answer that question, we might look to the three primary sources produced in that settlement. Thomas Harriot’s A Briefe and True Report from the New-Found Land of Virginia tells us a great deal about the land, its potential commodities, and its inhabitants, but it does not tell us what happened. John White’s watercolors provide detailed portraits of individuals, material culture, and social organization in the area, but they do not tell us what happened. The text that comes closest to doing so is a third but frequently unread source: Ralph Lane’s An Account of the Particularities of the Imployments of the English Men Left in Virginia.1 Upon Lane’s return to London, he composed this report of the colony’s progress and failure at the behest of Sir Walter Ralegh. The manuscript was circulated among backers of colonization and members of Elizabeth I’s court and was later edited and published, along with Lane’s early enthusiastic letter, by Richard Hakluyt in his Principall Navigations of 1589.2 If Lane’s letter contained the kind of confident projections that promoted colonial settlement, his Account contained, but could barely contain, something else: a confused attempt to narrate a history in which he was a principal actor, but which he still did not fully understand. The document Lane produced is a troubled one but, as I will argue in this essay, that very trouble provides valuable evidence about what happened in the field of colonial incursion. To learn what happened in Roanoke in 1585 and 1586, there is both no [End Page 285] better and no worse place to look than Lane’s narrative. No better place, because Lane was in command of the settlement and his is a detailed record of this very early English incursion. As governor, Lane was charged with creating and fortifying a base from which English privateers could raid Spanish galleons full of New World gold. He was also meant to assess and describe the potential of the place for a full-fledged colony: its geography, its resources, and its people. Finally, he was expected to give an account of all that transpired there. However, Lane’s English company was forced to abandon Roanoke, leaving an enterprise so recently begun hanging on the edge of ignominy. Returned from the debacle, scores of unsettled men were out and about in London telling tales. If a successful mission required careful accounting, a failed one demanded a more thorough explanation still. Lane’s report was expected not only to deliver the facts but also to halt the rumors and to justify this dismal showing. There is also no worse place to learn about what happened that year in Roanoke because, to put it simply, Lane’s report is a mess. It lacks fluidity, has maddening omissions, and is poorly organized. It tells too little, leaving gaping holes in the story, except for where it tells too much, laying out everything Lane intended to do instead of describing what he did. It declares allegiance to certain rhetorical terms—order, division, particularity—and then immediately subverts them. It requires uncomfortable reading practices: to discount what’s on the page because these pages are filled with nonevents, to search for what is not on the page because everywhere information is suppressed, to riffle back and forth between pages because the text refuses steady chronology. Having failed at his commission, Lane also failed at accounting for it. Harriot and White, on the other hand, were secure in their commissions. They were charged with gathering as...

The Bank of England as the World Gold Market-Maker During the Classical Gold Standard Era, 1889-1910

This paper studies the microfoundations of the so-called device policy by analysing a new dataset on the Bank of England's operations in the gold market at the heyday of the classical gold standard. It explains that devices must be understood in connection to the Bank's role as gold market-maker in London and to the position of London as world gold market. Contrary to the literature, the paper shows that devices were sophisticated monetary policy tools intended to complement – not to substitute – interest rate policy and aimed at smoothing – not at hampering – international adjustment. These findings demonstrate the potential of adopting a microstructural approach to the study of monetary policy, and call for a reassessment of efficiency measurement for the gold standard.

Price Dynamics of the World Gold Market: A Model Incorporating Inventories

Gold is regarded as a strategic mineral in many countries and its price is a key indicator of global business confidence. Therefore, various studies, albeit static analyses, have been conducted on the world gold market. There is need for dynamic modelling of the market, which would enhance understanding of the world market conditions, especially the long-term tendency of world gold prices, and hence facilitate long-term planning. Production schedules in many producing countries, especially in the developing world, have reacted to short-term price fluctuations, making them unstable. This study incorporates an inventory equation into the world market model for gold. Simultaneous equation approaches are used to estimate the model. From this model are derived the time-path for the world market price of gold and its dynamic characteristics in terms of whether or not there is evidence of convergence (dynamic stability) and the nature of such convergence. All regression results are consistent with theory, except that the supply function has a positive and significant constant, which may be linked to expectations that are rife in the market. However, both supply and inventory functions have very low explanatory powers. The price time-path converges without oscillations, from below, towards an intertemporal equilibrium. This equilibrium is estimated at slightly over US$100,000.00 per kilogram, based on an average world income (including income projections) calculated over a century (1980-2079). If the assumption of average income is relaxed, the intertemporal equilibrium price becomes variable dependent on the actual values of world income at a given time, which however, does not alter its dynamic characteristics. The results, therefore, show that gold price is dynamically stable. Short-term fluctuations, which are sometimes extreme, have no long-term effect on gold attractiveness, which means that they should not affect long-term production plans, especially if they are price reductions. The study could be improved by incorporating technical progress and price expectations into the model. Generally, it would be expected that inclusion of technical progress, especially as a uniform trend over time, would result in a moving equilibrium without altering the conclusion on convergence.

The effects of gold nanosize for the exploitation of furfural by selective oxidation

An Au/ZrO2 catalyst was prepared and characterized in order to study the role of gold nanosize in the conversion of furfural into methyl furoate by oxidative esterification with O2 and methanol, without NaCH3O. The comparison with the Au/TiO2 reference catalyst provided by the World Gold Council and with an Au/ZrO2 catalyst treated at 600°C in oxygen emphasized very good catalytic performances. Highly dispersed Au was evidenced on Au/ZrO2 by quantitative CO chemisorption, HRTEM analysis and FTIR spectroscopy of adsorbed CO. On the contrary, the thermal treatment at 600°C results in the presence of nanoparticles larger than 4nm that make the catalyst poorly active and selective. The Au clusters and their ability in the activation of the O2 molecule play a key role in the reaction.

New World Gold: Cultural Anxiety and Monetary Disorder in Early Modern Spain (review)

New World Gold: Cultural Anxiety and Monetary Disorder in Early Modern Spain (review)

Nanostructured iron oxide catalysts with gold for the oxidation of carbon monoxide

A commercial iron oxide support is compared with Fe2O3 samples prepared by decomposition of iron nitrate, at 300 °C and 500 °C and heating times varying from 30 min to 96 h in N2. Different methods were used for gold deposition, namely double impregnation (DIM), liquid phase reductive deposition (LPRD) and ultrasonication (US). Samples were characterised by N2 adsorption at −196 °C, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and temperature programmed reduction. CO oxidation was used as a test reaction to compare the catalytic activities. The best results were obtained for the sample produced by decomposition of nitrate at 300 °C for 1 h, which showed the largest surface area and highest amount of hydroxylated iron species. Increasing the calcination time and/or the temperature produced less active samples. Although LPRD materials showed the smallest gold nanoparticle sizes (1–12 nm), the best catalytic results were obtained for the DIM materials. This is most likely related to the oxidation state of gold (Au+) found in the DIM catalysts, in contrast with LPRD and US materials, where metallic gold (Au0) is present. Other samples showed lower activities. Nevertheless, all samples prepared by DIM had better catalytic activity than the Au/Fe2O3 World Gold Council reference catalyst.

:New World Gold: Cultural Anxiety and Monetary Disorder in Early Modern Spain

:<i>New World Gold: Cultural Anxiety and Monetary Disorder in Early Modern Spain</i>

Application of the Temkin Model to the Adsorption of CO on Gold

A treatment of the Temkin model was developed for describing the adsorption of CO on gold. In this presentation, it is made clear that the Temkin thermodynamic model is an extension of the Langmuir model that incorporates a linear variation of the adsorption enthalpy. It is also stressed that the Temkin model can be interpreted in terms of two distinct physical situations: the first assumes equivalent binding sites and an adsorption enthalpy that varies with coverage due adsorbate interactions, while the second assumes a uniform distribution of heterogeneous binding sites and an adsorption enthalpy that varies due to the heterogeneity of sites. In addition, a midrange approximation, where the surface is roughly half covered with adsorbates, is commonly employed. While each of these situations is similar, they are not equivalent and yield slightly different analytical expressions that describe the adsorption coverage as a function of pressure and temperature. Fitting data with the different analytical expressions therefore produces slightly different thermodynamic values for the adsorption enthalpy and entropy. These different cases are explicitly defined and developed. For the adsorption of CO on gold, the adsorbate interaction case is shown to be most consistent with the current body of experimental and theoretical evidence. The various analytical expressions are used to apply the Temkin model to data for CO adsorption on 1% Au/TiO2 real-world catalysts (from the World Gold Council) studied under catalytically relevant isothermal (T = 275–325 K) and isobaric (PCO = 0–10 Torr) experimental conditions. Infrared transmission spectroscopy was the analytical technique used for quantitatively measuring the adsorption coverage. The coverage as a function of pressure (θ,P) and as a function of temperature (θ,T) was fit with the Temkin adsorption models. The models yield the thermodynamic adsorption enthalpy at zero and full coverage as well as the adsorption entropy. The values of these thermodynamic parameters differ slightly depending upon the particular Temkin situation considered (cf. adsorbate interaction, heterogeneous surface, and midrange approximation cases). While all three Temkin cases produced excellent fits to both the isothermal and isobaric data sets, the adsorbate interaction case is most consistent with experimental and theoretical evidence describing the adsorption of CO on gold. The average enthalpy values from fitting the isothermal and isobaric data sets using the adsorbate interaction model are −ΔH0 = 59.2 kJ/mol and −ΔH1 = 54.6 kJ/mol for zero and full coverage, respectively. The adsorption entropy, −ΔS = 142 J/(K mol), was determined by fitting the data sets from multiple isothermal experiments with the adsorbate interaction case. These thermodynamic adsorption values are in excellent agreement with previously reported values. The validity of the Temkin adsorbate interaction model was further supported by fitting isothermal and isobaric data for the adsorption of CO on a well-defined gold surface, as reported previously by Gottfried et al. This new treatment of the Temkin adsorption model is theoretically and experimentally straightforward and applicable to both isothermal and isobaric data sets. It provides meaningful thermodynamic values of adsorption enthalpy and entropy, which can be used to characterize and explain differences between various catalysts. The model should also be applicable to the adsorption of other small molecules on metal surfaces and particles that show coverage-dependent adsorption properties.

Hydrogen interaction with gold nanoparticles and clusters supported on different oxides: A FTIR study

Hydrogen activation is a key step in many reactions like hydrogenations and other processes as the reverse water gas shift reaction. Therefore, the comprehension of the mechanism of hydrogen activation would sustain the understanding of the whole reaction mechanism as well as of the role played either by the gold or by the support. FTIR spectroscopy has been employed as a tool in order to improve the actual knowledge on these topics. Hydrogen interaction with the Au/TiO 2 reference catalyst provided by the World Gold Council, containing mainly gold nanoparticles, and with two samples, Au/CeO 2 and Au/ZrO 2, in which gold clusters are present, has been performed. Hydrogen is dissociated at room temperature on the edge and corner sites of both nanoparticles and clusters, independently from the nature of the support. FTIR evidences of the formation of Au–H and Au–OH species are presented for the first time. These species are strongly bonded to Au and compete with CO adsorption. In addition, the spillover of the H atoms takes place on titania, H atoms are ionized to H + and the released electrons populate the conduction band, as testified by a monotonous absorption that grows at increasing contact time and pressure. The species observed in this paper can play a role on the activity and selectivity of gold catalysts in reactions involving hydrogen dissociation.

Interview: Trevor Keel From The World Gold Council

Trevor Keel speaks to Cara Sutton, Assistant Commissioning Editor Within the World Gold Council’s technology sector, Trevor Keel is responsible for a range of activities in relation to the development of new gold-based technologies. He has particular interest in the use of gold in the fields of medicine and diagnostics, catalysis and nanotechnology. Previously, Trevor was a principal chemist at GlaxoSmithKline where he was involved in numerous New Chemical Entity projects. Dr Keel has an extensive knowledge of nanotechnology, having completed a PhD in Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology at the University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.

New World gold: cultural anxiety and monetary disorder in early modern Spain - By Elvira Vilches

New World gold: cultural anxiety and monetary disorder in early modern Spain - By Elvira Vilches

Measurement and scaling of air–surface mercury exchange from substrates in the vicinity of two Nevada gold mines

The state of Nevada has extensive mineral resources, and is the largest producer of gold in the USA as well as fourth in world gold production. Mercury (Hg) is often present in the hydrothermal systems that produce gold deposits, and can be found in elevated concentrations in gold ore. As a result, mining of gold ore in Nevada has been shown to release Hg to the atmosphere from point and non-point sources. This project focused on measurement of air–soil Hg exchange associated with undisturbed soils and bedrock outcrops in the vicinity of two large gold mines. Field and laboratory data collected were used to identify the important variables controlling Hg flux from these surfaces, and to estimate a net flux from the areas adjacent to the active mines as well as that occurring from the mined area pre-disturbance. Mean daily flux by substrate type ranged from 9 ng m − 2 day − 1 to 140 ng m − 2 day − 1 . Periods of net deposition of elemental Hg were observed when air masses originating from a mine site moved over sampling locations. Based on these observations and measured soil Hg concentrations we suggest that emissions from point and non-point sources at the mines are a source of Hg to the surrounding substrates with the amount deposited not being of an environmental concern but of interest mainly with respect to the cycling of atmospheric elemental Hg. Observations indicate that while some component of the deposited Hg is sequestered in the soil, this Hg is gradually released back to the atmosphere over time. Estimated pre-disturbance emissions from the current mine footprints based on field data were 0.1 and 1.7 kg yr − 1 , compared to that estimated for the current non-point mining sources of 19 and 109 kg yr − 1 , respectively.

New World Gold: Cultural Anxiety and Monetary Disorder in Early Modern Spain. By Elvira Vilches (Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2010) 361 pp. $45.00

<i>New World Gold: Cultural Anxiety and Monetary Disorder in Early Modern Spain.</i> By Elvira Vilches (Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2010) 361 pp. $45.00

Magnetotelluric survey for undercover structural mapping, Central Victoria

Over 2% of total world gold production has come from the Victorian gold fields; however, most of the shallow deposits have now been discovered, and new methods are required for exploration beneath the thick sedimentary cover of the Murray Basin. Consequently, as part of the GeoScience Victoria Gold Undercover Initiative, new magnetotelluric (MT) data have now been obtained to provide a greater understanding of potential gold bearing structures extending to mid-crustal and greater depths. Coinciding with part of the 2006 Central Victorian Seismic Survey, a 170 km long MT transect lies within the Bendigo and Melbourne Zones, two of the fault bounded subdivisions of the western Lachlan Fold Belt. Additional transient electromagnetic (TEM) data have now been obtained at each of the MT sites allowing further processing, including compensation for static shifts that are significant in this area. The revised MT section provides an image consistent with the seismic section. The major fault zones align with several dipping conductive slabs supporting the orientation and depth extent revealed by the seismic profile. There is some evidence in the MT data that near-surface geological structures can be extrapolated to mantle depths.

Gold Catalysts Supported on Cerium–Gallium Mixed Oxide for the Carbon Monoxide Oxidation and Water Gas Shift Reaction

The synthesis, characterization and catalytic properties of gold supported on ceria, gallia and a cerium–gallium mixed oxide were investigated. The nanostructural characterization of the cerium–gallium support (nominal atomic composition Ce80Ga20) showed that gallium(III) cations are homogenously distributed into the ceria matrix by substituting cerium(IV) cations of the fluorite-type structure of ceria. Au was added to the supports by the deposition–precipitation method using urea. High Au dispersions were achieved for all the fresh materials (D > 60%). The CO oxidation and the water gas shift (WGS) reaction were tested on the whole set of catalysts. All the supported-gold catalysts showed high activity for the CO oxidation reaction. However, those containing gallium in their formulation deactivated due to gold particle sinterization. Au(2%)/CeO2 was the most active material for the WGS reaction, and the Au(2%)/Ce80Ga20 was as active as a Au(3%)/Ce68Zr32 catalyst for CO oxidation, and even more active than the reference catalyst of the World Gold Council, Au(2%)/TiO2.

New World Gold: Cultural Anxiety and Monetary Disorder in Early Modern Spain (review)

Reviewed by: New World Gold: Cultural Anxiety and Monetary Disorder in Early Modern Spain Judith G. Caballero New World Gold: Cultural Anxiety and Monetary Disorder in Early Modern Spain. University of Chicago Press, 2010. By Elvira Vilches. How does one win a multimillion-dollar lottery and still end up broke? This is the conundrum that Early Modern Spaniards were confronting: how was it possible that after discovering the New World and literally receiving boatloads full of gold, silver, and precious stones, Spain’s economy had collapsed? In her book, New World Gold: Cultural Anxiety and Monetary Disorder in Early Modern Spain, Elvira Vilches delves into the intricate world of finance and credit of Early Modern Spain and shows how most Spaniards of the XVI and XVII centuries, using scholastic and mercantilistic lines of thought, judged the economic collapse of their era to spiritual malaise and to the mismanagement of gold and silver brought to the Peninsula from the Americas. Elvira Vilches’s use of a wide scope of writings—which include economic treatises, letters, chronicles, and literary works—and authors—such as Christopher Columbus, Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo, Luis Saravia de la Calle, Diego de Covarrubias, Tomás de Mercado, Lope de Vega, Miguel de Cervantes, and Mateo Alemán—allows her to create a comprehensive portrayal of the financial concerns of Early Modern Spain and of the New World during the era of discovery and early colonization. The writing of this era reflects the distress caused by the dire situation of Spain and its inhabitants’ frustration at failing to understand why the increase in riches negatively affected the economy. By exploring an array of writings, Elvira Vilches not only explains the theories developed to comprehend and potentially solve the crisis, but also shows how difficult it was for the people of that era to grasp the complexities of credit, the abstraction of money, inflation, and the devaluation of precious metals. This approach does not converge into a single narrative that explains the economic demise of Spain—it is not Vilches’s objective to create a theory explaining why it [End Page 215] occurred—rather, it provides us with the multiple narratives of the era, thus forcing readers to reflect upon Spain’s economic circumstances to reach their own conclusion. Amongst the most important ideas that surface constantly throughout the book is the distress caused in the population by the shift from concrete money to abstract money. Under the monetary system of Medieval Spain, a coin’s worth was based upon the quantity and quality of the metal it contained. The seal of the king did not add value to the coin, it just certified that it was not an adulterated coin. However, this system was based on the idea that gold had an intrinsic, unalienable, and stable worth. Because the value of gold was perceived as immutable, an influx of it should not affect its value at all. In fact, according to the mercantilistic writings of the era, the more gold acquired, the better off they would be. However, this view was challenged by the arrival of riches from the New World that depreciated the value of gold and by the monarchy’s decision to increase the worth of the currency in the New World but not in Spain; this had the unintended consequence of creating greater monetary confusion and economic disincentives. As inflation soared through the Peninsula and the New World, Spaniards found that the purchasing value of their coins had diminished, yet the fluctuation of gold’s value was inconceivable for Early Modern Spaniards; mercantilists came to the conclusion that to save the economy, the gold had to be kept within Spain and pushed to stop exporting raw materials to foreign nations in exchange for manufactured goods. They blamed the people for not being frugal and for spending their money in trifles. This belief persisted, though Vilches does point out that scholars at the School of Salamanca had figured out that precious metals did not have intrinsic value, and had asked the government to monitor the new credit industry and money market. Elvira Vilches provides us with the multiple perspectives about the economic crisis of Early...

New World Gold: Cultural Anxiety and Monetary Disorder in Early Modern Spain

New World Gold: Cultural Anxiety and Monetary Disorder in Early Modern Spain

Gold catalysis at the gas–solid interface: role of the support in determining activity and selectivity in the hydrogenation of m-dinitrobenzene

The catalytic gas phase hydrogenation of m-dinitrobenzene (1 atm, 423 K) over laboratory synthesised (1 mol%) Au supported on Al2O3, TiO2, Fe2O3 and CeO2 and a reference Au/TiO2 (World Gold Council) has been investigated. The catalysts were prepared by deposition-precipitation (DP) and impregnation (IMP), where the former route generated smaller (surface area weighted) mean Au particle sizes (1.5–2.8 nm) compared with the IMP synthesis (3.5–9.0 nm). The catalysts have been characterized in terms of temperature programmed reduction (TPR), H2 chemisorption/temperature programmed desorption (TPD), BET area, powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) analyses. Hydrogen consumption over the T range 371–457 K during activation of Au on TiO2, Al2O3 and CeO2 can be associated with Au3+ → Au0 reduction. XRD analysis demonstrated the presence of metallic gold in Au/Fe2O3pre-TPR. A partial and complete reduction of the hematite support to magnetite (Fe2O3 → Fe3O4) was observed post-TPR to 423 and 673 K, respectively; H2-TPD results suggest the participation of spillover hydrogen in this step. Exclusive –NO2group reduction and time invariant conversions were observed for all the catalysts considered in this study. An increase in the specific hydrogenation rate with a decrease in the mean Au size (from 9 to 3 nm) was observed. m-Nitroaniline was generated as the sole product over Au/TiO2 and Au/Fe2O3 whereas Au/CeO2 promoted the exclusive formation of m-phenylenediamine and a mixture of both products was obtained over Au/Al2O3. Our findings establish a basis for the development of a sustainable (clean and continuous) process for the hydrogenation of m-dinitrobenzene where product composition can be controlled through the choice of the oxide support.