A study has been conducted using abrasively modified basal and edge-plane graphite, carbon-paste, and carbon-epoxy electrodes to create gold-carbon composite electrodes. Using either nano or micro-sized gold particles their suitability for use in detecting arsenic(III) is assessed. It was found that gold arrays prepared from micron-sized particles gave the best performance for arsenic detection. In particular micron arrays produced in carbon-paste electrodes with an easily renewable surface work well for detection of arsenic, producing a detection limit of 5(+/-2)x10(-9) mol L(-1), with a high sensitivity of 10(+/-0.1) A mol(-1) L.