After Baba Ramdev's Patanjali, Junagadh University researchers find gold in cow urine

In a best case scenario, the team at Junagadh Agricultural University would be able to turn 10,000 litres of cow urine into one kg of gold.

June 28, 2016, NewsCrunch

A team of researchers at Junagadh Agricultural University (JAU) have found gold in the urine of Gir cows, a breed indigenous to India.

The researches say the gold in cow urine is in ionic form, or in the form of gold salts dissolved in water, but can be processed chemically and turned into solids.

The claim follows an announcement by Patanjali Natural Coloroma Limited that it had found traces of gold in cow urine.  Baba Ramdev had shared the result findings in 2014 and there is no update if Patanjali has commenced commercial production of gold from cow urine.

The Times of India reports that the Junagadh researchers took urine samples of 400 Gir cows and tested them at the Food Testing Laboratory of JAU over four years.

They found gold ranging from three mg to 10 mg from one litre of Gir cow urine. So, in a best case scenario, they would be able to turn 10,000 litres of cow  urine into one kg of gold.

The team of researchers led by Dr B A Golakia, head of biotechnology department, used gas chromatography-mass spectrometry method to isolate gold salts.

He told TOI that it was the first detailed scientific analysis to prove claims made in ancient scriptures that cow urine contained gold.

Baba Ramdev had shared the result findings in 2014 and there is no update if Patanjali has commenced commercial production of gold from cow urine.

The Junagadh research team also screened urine samples of camel, buffaloes, sheep and goat but did not find any traces of gold in them. They now plan to analyze urine samples of all 39 indigenous cow breeds of India to find gold.
Religious minded Hindu researchers have held that cow urine contains elements that promises cure for a host of diseases. There is also a traditional belief that cow urine contains copper, which converts into gold inside the human body to remove toxicity.

The notion that urine contains gold is not limited to Hinduism alone. Medieval alchemists in Europe tried to extract gold from urine and the discovery of substances white phosphorus and urea are credited to this quest.