Relativistic multireference Møller-Plesset perturbation theory has been employed to calculate with high accuracy the energy levels and transition probabilities of Cu- to Sr-like gold ions. The many-body calculations were carried out to identify the unassigned blended lines in the 35–40 Å region of the low-energy EBIT spectrum of the gold ions [Träbert et al 2001 Can. J. Phys.79153]. Most of the prominent lines in the 35–40 Å region were identified as the emission lines in Sr-like gold.