This is a topic that I have always been interested in, but I have had little success in finding satisfactory answers. I do know for sure that gold was found and used to a limited extend in South America, but other than that, I cannot find anything that relates to the understanding or development of metallurgy in pre-Colombian societies in the Americas. Anything would be helpful.
We have a whole section of Pre-Columbian metallurgy questions in our FAQ section.
I definitely suggest checking out the metallurgy FAQ. I just want to add this:
I do know for sure that gold was found and used to a limited extend in South America
It wasn't limited. Gold was used extensively in the Andes. Silver too. Gold and silver were so abundant that the Spanish would even grant licenses to mine the mounds and temples found throughout the coast and highlands. Perhaps the most dramatic was Huaca del Sol at the Huacas de Moche, the Moche "capital" city; the city was build alongside the Moche River, which allowed the Spanish to divert the river into the Huaca to erode it and literally mine it for gold and silver. Pre-Columbian Andean people absolutely adored gold and silver (and a copper-gold alloy, which had the colour of gold but could stretch it further).
