Gold spawns in two biomes: scattered small nodes in the Coral Gardens (your surface biome) and rich deposits in the Karakorum deep biome. Most players hit the surface Gold first by accident, then plan a Karakorum trip when they need stacks for Strong Acid and the Advanced Wiring Kit chain.
Gold is the bottleneck for the entire advanced electronics branch: Advanced Wiring Kit, the Strong Acid alt-recipe, Entangled Power Cell, and Thermal Plant. If your base is stuck at Basic Battery, you almost certainly need Gold.
The catch: the Strong Acid alt-recipe (Sulfur + Gold) requires the Heat Tolerance Adaptation to access the hydrothermal/Karakorum Gold pockets safely. Until you've cleared the Heat Tolerance Angel Comb (Sonic Resonator on the NW Bloom Canker), use Necrolei Cysts as your primary Strong Acid source.
Coral Gardens scattered (0-200m): Small Gold nodes spawn across the Coral Gardens biome — these are surface-biome nodes you can pick up by hand without any depth gear. You'll spot the first ones on rocky outcrops within 200m of the Lifepod. Yield per trip is small but the run is risk-free.
Karakorum Power Plant region (100-400m): The serious Gold farm. The Karakorum biome is divided into three sub-regions (Observatory, Power Plant, Root Canyons) and Gold appears in all three. Power Plant corridors are the lowest-risk first stop because you're following the main quest path. Combine with Atacamite and Celestine scanning on the same trip.
Karakorum Root Canyons (200-400m): Densest Gold concentration. Bullethead deep-zone predators patrol from 100m to 500m. Mk.1 Depth Module + Cavitation Muffler is the standard kit.
Large nodes need the Sonic Resonator — large Gold deposits cannot be broken with the Survival Multitool. Bring the Resonator from your first Karakorum descent onward, and the per-trip yield triples.
