Trouble in Augment Paradise! Where's the Gold?!

[AConcealedFigure]

So there are several augment types, Gold Jewelry Ornaments and Clockwork Stimulators from what I can tell, that need gold bars. Gold wire more specifically. I've heard it exists but I've literally never seen gold IG. In order to smelt a single gold bar, you would need 50 golds coins, or 500000 copper, then you're halfway to making your augment. Now, I am not sure what the appropriate response is in terms of balance b/c I know minting is a thing. This seems a very difficult task currently. I've spoken with some miners, none of them have ever seen the ore. Rumor mill says what's around came from loot tables that no longer exist. I can't say for sure, but I would hope there can be some middle ground, maybe 10 coins per ingot? Minting "only" gives 5 coins. 10g, while still a fortune, is kinda doable. I'm sure someone smarter than me can weigh in on this

[Kent]

Gold was available in the initial mining table that existed around launch. There is(was) gold floating around. Skewed perceptions may lead one to believe that gold is nowhere on the map, but i'm pretty confident it's out there somewhere until proven otherwise by staff.

The main problem with augments is the massive difference in time investment vs reward when compared to enchantments at every single point in the chain: the resources/time required by the augment maker and the payoff for the end-user.