Tuesday, June 15, 2010

THE CASE OF SILVER- 25TH MARCH 2010

Four crucial twists in the case for inflation-friendly, growth-friendly silver...


CASH-in-the-BANK is the nearest thing to "risk-free" that the finance industry offers. But bank savings now mean "sure-fire loss" thanks to sub-zero real rates of interest.
The longer that interest rates stay below inflation, the more people will be forced to take more risks to defend what money they've got – and one higher-risk choice is Buying Silver. It's slowly becoming ever-more popular, at least amongst that handful of savers and investors who see tomorrow's inflation in today's monetary policy.

Here at BullionVault for instance, and over the last 12 months or so, we've had more than 250 customers ask when we'll offer silver alongside our gold-dealing and ownership service. No other single comment or query from our 16,500 users comes close. So now, our new silver market means you can trade physical bullion – at live Silver Prices – and store it securely at low cost in specialist, private vaults outside the banking sector.

You can start with a free ounce of silver today, if you wish. You'll be free of credit-default or bank-counterparty risk, leaving you exposed solely to the Silver Price.

Before you register though, just why might you want to buy, own and trade physical silver anyway?

The case for gold is increasingly plain, as Société Générale strategist Dylan Grice notes in his much-quoted Popular Delusions this week.


Sub-zero real rates of interest, plus huge and irreversible government deficits – funded by central banks printing cash – make this rare, internationally recognized and tightly supplied monetary asset as highly appealing as a store of wealth as it has ever been through 7,000 years of known history.

Silver, on the other hand, was ousted by gold bullion as the world's monetary anchor in the mid-to-late 19th century. But it remained a medium of exchange well into the 20th century, and long after gold had vanished from sight too, buried in central-bank vaults to be represented above-ground by paper notes only.

Because silver is more than 17 times as plentiful as gold in the earth's crust, its use as money – both in coin and as a measure of value – is far more common in the historical archives as well. Whereas today, it holds much the same basic appeal as gold, but with four crucial twists
 
1. Gold/Silver Ratio

Historically (meaning from the dawn of recorded time to around 1900), one ounce of gold typically bought 15 or 16 ounces of silver, and pretty much everywhere in the world too. Today, that ratio stands at 65 times in the wholesale Spot Gold and silver bullion markets. (It's very much worse again if you're trading small bars and coins, thanks to dealer mark-ups and margins.) Many analysts and investors now expect the ratio to fall back towards its long-term mean, if not quite reach it. Even the 20th century average would see silver doubling in value against gold – which itself, of course, plenty of people now see going higher against the Dollar, Euro and Pound Sterling anyway.

2. Consumption

Whereas pretty much all the gold ever mined in history is still available – closely guarded but ready-at-hand as jewelry, bars and coins – silver is somewhat closer to commodities like crude oil, soybeans or orange, in that it often vanishes in its use. Consumption rarely affects gold, but silver's lower value means recycling and recovering it isn't always economical. And because it tends to be a by-product of other mining operations (mostly gold or copper), rather than dug up for its own sake, analysts don't see silver's primary supply as responsive as gold or base metals to changes in price.

3. Industrial Demand

Unlike gold, silver is predominantly used by industry today. So rather than offering deflation protection (as gold most recently did after the collapse of Lehman Bros.), silver is strictly inflation-friendly, with a number of fast-growing uses in both developed and emerging economies making it look very growth-friendly, too. Excluding silver investing demand, London's VM Group analysts now forecast an additional 350 million ounces of annual silver demand by 2020 thanks to:

RFID tags for stock control and ID cards are "taking over from bar codes";

Solar panels – forecast to grow by 20-40 times in 10 years;

Wood preservatives to replace arsenic;

Wound care & other medical use, food hygiene, and anti-odor textiles – because silver, a biocide, inhibits bacteria.

All this growth might soon eat itself, of course, if industrial demand forces silver prices sharply higher. But VM's forecast compares with total industrial demand of 450 million ounces in 2008, according to the mining-backed Silver Institute. Meaning the case for silver doesn't rest solely on monetary chaos.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

New Gold Announces Inclusion in FTSE Gold Mines Index

VANCOUVER, June 3 /CNW/ - New Gold Inc. ("New Gold") (TSX and NYSE AMEX:NGD) today announces it has received notification that following the semi-annual review of the FTSE Gold Mines Index ("Index"), the FTSE Gold Mines Index Committee announced inclusion of New Gold in the Index, which will become effective on June 21, 2010.


This is another important milestone in the advancement of New Gold and reflects our growing gold production, market capitalization and trading volumes," stated Randall Oliphant, Executive Chairman.

The FTSE Gold Mines Index is designed to reflect the performance of the world-wide market in the shares of companies whose principal activity is the mining of gold. Eligibility is based on the quantity of gold production. All Index values are denominated in US dollars.

FTSE is an independent company jointly owned by The Financial Times and the London Stock Exchange and is a world-leader in the creation and management of over 120,000 equity, bond and alternative asset class indices.

About New Gold

New Gold is an intermediate gold mining company with the Mesquite Mine in the United States, the Cerro San Pedro Mine in Mexico and the Peak Gold Mines in Australia. The company is expected to produce between 330,000 and 360,000 ounces of gold in 2010, growing to over 400,000 ounces in 2012. In addition, New Gold has a strong portfolio of development and exploration assets in North and South America. For further information on the company, please visit www.newgold.com.

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Certain information contained in this news release, including any information relating to New Gold's future financial or operating performance may be deemed "forward looking". All statements in this news release, other than statements of historical fact, that address events or developments that New Gold expects to occur, are "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "does not expect", "plans", "anticipates", "does not anticipate", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential", "scheduled", "forecast", "budget" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could", "should" or "might" occur. All such forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management as of the date such statements are made and are subject to important risk factors and uncertainties, many of which are beyond New Gold's ability to control or predict. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based on estimates and assumptions that are inherently subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause New Gold's actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, without limitation: significant capital requirements; fluctuations in the international currency markets and in the rates of exchange of the currencies of Canada, the United States, Australia, Mexico and Chile; price volatility in the spot and forward markets for commodities; impact of any hedging activities, including margin limits and margin calls; discrepancies between actual and estimated production, between actual and estimated reserves and resources and between actual and estimated metallurgical recoveries; changes in national and local government legislation in Canada, the United States, Australia, Mexico and Chile or any other country in which New Gold currently or may in the future carry on business; taxation; controls, regulations and political or economic developments in the countries in which New Gold does or may carry on business; the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development, including the risks of obtaining and maintaining the validity and enforceability of the necessary licenses and permits and complying with the permitting requirements of each jurisdiction that New Gold operates, including, but not limited to, Mexico, where New Gold is involved with ongoing challenges relating to its environmental impact statement for the Cerro San Pedro Mine; the lack of certainty with respect to the Mexican and other foreign legal systems, which may not be immune from the influence of political pressure, corruption or other factors that are inconsistent with the rule of law; the uncertainties inherent to current and future legal challenges the company is or may become a party to, including the third party claim related to the El Morro transaction with respect to New Gold's exercise of its right of first refusal on the El Morro copper-gold project in Chile and its partnership with Goldcorp Inc., which transaction and third party claim were announced by New Gold in January 2010; diminishing quantities or grades of reserves; competition; loss of key employees; additional funding requirements; actual results of current exploration or reclamation activities; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; accidents; labour disputes; defective title to mineral claims or property or contests over claims to mineral properties. In addition, there are risks and hazards associated with the business of mineral exploration, development and mining, including environmental hazards, industrial accidents, unusual or unexpected formations, pressures, cave-ins, flooding and gold bullion losses (and the risk of inadequate insurance or inability to obtain insurance to cover these risks) as well as "Risk Factors" included in New Gold's Annual Information Form filed on March 26, 2010 and Management's Discussion and Analysis for the year ended December 31, 2009, both available at www.sedar.com. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results and future events could materially differ from those anticipated in such statements. All of the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are qualified by these cautionary statements. New Gold expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, events or otherwise, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

"FTSE(R)" and "Footsie(R)" are registered trademarks of the London Stock Exchange plc and The Financial Times Limited and are used by FTSE under licence. Neither FTSE nor its licensors accept any liability for any errors or omissions in FTSE indices.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Gold Price Slips with Silver as Oil, Platinum Rally; Stocks Reverse Early Gains - 9th June 2010

Gold fell some 1% in Asia and London on Wednesday, and then dropped further in late morning New York trade to drop as low as $1221.85 an ounce.




The Gold Price bounced back higher in the last couple of hours of trade, but it still ended with a loss of 1.2% on the day.



The US Dollar index and Treasury bonds fell as oil and the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P rose markedly for most of the morning on optimism over economic growth after a report showing growing Chinese exports.



Late-day weakness in the Euro came alongside a drop in the major US indices, reversing all of their gains in afternoon trade and closing with 0.5% losses.



The Gold Price in Euros fell to end at €1029, down 2.1% from Tuesday's latest record high.



Wednesday's auction of 10-year Treasury bonds drew a yield of 3.242% with a bid to cover ratio of 3.24.



Silver meantime fell to as low as $18.07 before it also climbed back higher in late trade, but it still ended with a loss of 1.3%.



Platinum gained $8 to $1527, and copper rose 7 cents to about $2.84.



Gold Mining and silver equities waffled near unchanged for most of the morning, but they then fell off in afternoon trade and ended with over 1% losses.



The Federal Reserve's Beige Book of economic analysis for June showed that

manufacturing picked up and retail sales grew. Housing was helped by the since-expired tax credit for homebuyers.



Commercial real estate remained weak, and Fed chairman Bernanke warned on poor labor market conditions in testimony to a House of Representatives committee.



Thursday at 08:30 ET brings Initial US Jobless Claims for last week, expected at 450,000, plus the Trade Balance for April, expected at minus $41.3 billion.



The Treasury Budget for May, announced at 14:00, is expected to show a $142.0 billion deficit.



A Treasury Dept. report sent to Congress last Friday, and revealed to Reuters, forecasts that US debt will top $13.6 trillion in 2010 and reach $19.6 trillion by 2015.

The role of gold amid today's hyperinflation risks

IS HYPERINFLATION a credible threat to your wealth today?
Paul Tustain, founder and CEO of BullionVault – the world's largest store of privately-owned gold – thinks so.
He believes the West's "comfortably-off" middle classes could be destroyed by the cost of living doubling over the next five years – a view he presented to the 2009 Investors' Forum held by CLSA, Asia's leading independent broker and investment group, last month.

Joining such experts as Marc Faber, Christopher Wood, Robert Fisk, Anthony Bolton, Niall Ferguson and Jim Rogers, Paul spoke about gold and hyperinflation to more than 400 finance professionals at a series of face-to-face meetings in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore.

"On the tour, and to begin with rather nervously," says Paul, "I painted the picture of gold's tight supply versus the currency glut of hyperinflation. By the end of my tour, hardly a word of professional dissent came out.

"With that in mind I have decided to put it down in writing, and try to help other investors and savers make up their own minds about gold's value if hyperinflation takes hold.

Gold Outperforming Silver - 7th June 2010

Gold-Silver Ratio rises to 70 as gold outperforms silver amid the "fiat currency" crisis...

WE HAULED OUT the "caution" flags in our Got Gold Report four weeks ago, writes Gene Arensberg in Houston, Texas, because of the ominous signals then showing in the data, charts and ratios we follow closely here at GotGoldReport.com.

The subtitle of that subscriber report said, "Rig for heavy weather and hope we don't get it!" We then wondered whether "we [were] about to enter the eye of the storm or the eye wall itself..."

Since then the world has given us all a heavy dose of anxiety, precious little to be bullish about, and we all have seen even less from our political "leadership" which might cause even the hint of increased confidence in them.

About the only thing we have seen enough to be bullish about is Gold – because it is now so darn easy to be bearish of most all fiat currencies longer term and even more bearish of the poorly chosen elitist, vote-pandering, freedom-stealing, Big Government-loving narcissist cast and crew currently in charge in Washington.

As bad as that seems, we sense it is patently good for Gold Investment longer term, but everyone already knows what is in the news. Let's look at what some of the indicators are telling us.

Looking at last week's price action – and with the HUI index of gold and silver mining stocks running red – we have to note the extremely high Gold/Silver Ratio, now standing near 70. While gold turned in both a higher high and high low last week, silver could not answer. Short-term the table sends us a confused and more mixed up message than we like, but long-time readers know we view a GSR over 70 as an opportunity to Buy Silver (More about that below...)

Longer term, we still see nothing which undermines the secular bull market thesis for gold metal. With the short-term trading portion of our money, we plan to stay opportunistic for gold, waiting like patient vultures for a juicy opportunity to redeploy our short-term trading ammo, glad that we hold long-term physical metal in our arsenal.

We will have more about our positioning in the linked charts below and likely on the web log later this coming week. As we like to say, we are like a bird dog on point waiting for a re-entry sign.

Gold bounced at the very top of the zone we thought might be former resistance morphing into current support, but it has so far not managed to get into our "wheelhouse" (the purple box target). Demand has just been too strong, even in US Dollar terms. As strong as it has been in greenbacks, it has been even stronger in terms of Euros.

We will continue to tentatively mark the high $1150s as potential support for gold – with resistance now near $1250 – until proven otherwise on both counts.

Silver is a little different as far as we are concerned. Commitment of Traders data, released by US regulator the CFTC on Friday, does not suggest that the Big Sellers (BS) have been aggressive on the short side of the second most popular precious metal. Despite some modest negative money flow from the largest silver ETF, we sense that demand for physical silver in bar form has ramped up considerably over the past two weeks. We are privy to rumblings in the rumor mill of plans by "major players" to accumulate substantial amounts of the white metal – most likely through the Comex in New York, but probably also in the London physical camp.

This is not the first time such rumors have circulated. We heard similar stories in April and again in May. It is not the silver accumulation story that we are interested in so much as its longevity. Rumors that don't die are usually not just rumors.

As for Gold Futures, while gold added $21.59 or 1.8% per ounce to $1,225.62 as of last Tuesday's reporting day, Comex commercial traders – meaning "gold industry" players who are typically bearish on prices, since they are in the business of selling it – actually reduced their combined collective net short positioning (LCNS) by a small 756 contracts or 0.3% from 268,379 to a still high 267,623 contracts net short.

The overall open interest in US Gold Futures meantime plunged by 37,410 contracts from a very high, near record 591,360 to 553,950 contracts open.

So, as the number of open contracts was dropping largely and quickly, the LC's were not really the ones doing the dropping, so to speak. Nevertheless, when we see a decrease in the LCNS on a substantial increase for the price of the metal, we don't normally view that as a bearish signal. Had we seen an increase in the LCNS with the increase in the price of gold, it would have "seemed" normal. What we got instead was the opposite – a little.

Here's the nominal LCNS graph for Gold Futures:

Since last Tuesday, gold met with dogged resistance in the upper $1220s, but a very determined sell-down attempt on Friday, June 4 during the post non-farm payroll disappointment rush to liquidity – one which drove gold below $1200 briefly – was met with equally determined bidding.

Gold actually closed at $1,219.83, well above the Friday open near $1207 an ounce, despite briefly trading to $1,197.15 thanks to the short covering.

Remember that the LC's net short positioning barely changed even though the open interest plunged. When compared to all contracts open, the relative commercial net short positioning (LCNS:TO - the most important graph we track) therefore rose sharply from 45.4% to 48.3% of all Comex Gold Futures contracts open.

Here's the LCNS:TO graph for gold:

Since last week's report gold is $21 higher, the LCNS is a little lower, but the open interest dropped considerably.

As of Thursday the open interest had fallen a bit more to around 548,000 contracts, meaning there is more bull-side "horsepower" potentially than there was a week ago. The flip side of that Gold Coin is that it also means some of the buy-side has pulled in their bets.

We don't like being on the sidelines with our short-term ammo on gold, but since we believe gold is in a long-term secular bull market and more likely to surprise to the upside than the opposite, we have but three possible positions. Long, leveraged long or flat – never short in a bull market (except to hedge). Thus, our current stance at the GotGoldReport of waiting patiently for opportunity with gold for our short-term ammunition.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Rising Gold Prices will help the Economy

It is a common myth that says a rising gold price would be followed by economic doom, misery, hard times, and perhaps a dreaded depression.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Rising gold and silver prices helps the economy, as I will prove.
The reason this myth is created in the media is to scare people away from investing in gold and silver. The myth creates a sense of guilt among those who own gold, and among those who are thinking about buying gold. It wrongly claims, "You will be to blame for harming the economy, if you buy gold and the gold price goes up." It whispers the socialist lie, "If we all remain in the dollar, everything will be OK."
The amazing thing about this media-myth is how many gold investors are scared out of their minds of the thought of gold rising past $3000/oz. as they fear it will bring on the prophesied economic doom, with riots, joblessness, homelessness, and widespread poverty.
Here is the reality from history. In 1933 U.S. farmers were dumping milk and destroying their crops because prices were artificially kept so low that they were losing money. Why were prices too low? Because gold was fixed at $20/oz.! And thus, other commodities were also priced too low! It would cost farmers money to bring their produce to market; therefore, they stopped doing so. The farmers were smart enough to realize and act on the axiom, "Do not engage in uneconomical activity."
I wish the silver miners today would be so smart. In other words, if you are not making a profit by mining and selling silver, stop bringing silver to market!
n my opinion Franklin D. Roosevelt was one of the worst presidents in our nation's history. He did more to befriend the big banks, and hurt the interests of the common man, and destroy economic freedom than perhaps any other president. Under FDR we got the dreaded Ponzi-scheme called Social Security. He created bigger government, social handouts, price controls, pulled the nation into World War II, and did everything needed to lead to the totalitarian government we have today.

But there was one thing he did that I think that had positive benefits. He revalued the gold price upwards from $20/oz. to $35/oz. Most gold commentators will say this was theft, a default, and the worst thing he did. But FDR did not create the theft that was originally created when excess paper money was created in the first place. The money-creation was the theft. FDR issued the decree that said that this excessively created paper money should not be valued as highly as it claimed it should be. That was the good thing FDR did, since he helped to reveal the fraud inherent in the dollar. Unfortunately, this re-valuation in the price was accompanied by the proclamation that made it illegal to own gold domestically. Yet, it still helped things for FDR to reveal the fraud of the dollar.

This created a boom in all commodity prices, and helped the farmers out tremendously, and helped the economy. Finally, it would be economic to produce food again. The rising gold price helped the economy.

If anything, the gold price did not rise high enough.
Move forward to the 1970's and 1980's. The years of Ronald Reagan, 1980 to 1988 were prosperous years. Society embraced morality more strongly than in the swinging 70's. Disco was out, and polo shirts were in. Reagan got re-elected in 1984 by asking the simple question, "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?" Prosperity followed after the gold price rose to $850 in 1980. It was not chaos, not doom, not poverty everywhere you looked. It was a boom time. The after effect of the rise in the gold price was prosperity.

So, as if the facts from history are not enough, let's look at the logical, rational reasons why higher precious metal prices will help the economy. It's very simple.

Barter is inefficient. You cannot efficiently trade cookies for a TV set, and you cannot efficiently trade a car for crayons, you cannot efficiently trade chickens for clothes. I hope I'm not boring you to tears, but do you get the concept? You cannot have an efficient economy without real money. You need a medium of exchange that is easily divisible, portable, valuable, and does not spoil or go out of style.
Gold and silver are what you need, for the reason that they make trade easier and more efficient, or economical. Gold and silver thus save time and energy, and are extremely useful.
Furthermore, a gold or silver coin cannot be tracked, does not need to be kept in a bank, does not need to pay interest, and therefore, cannot be taxed on every transaction. Therefore, gold and silver are very efficient for trading, far more efficient and useful than paper money.

(The reason that gold and silver do not need to pay interest is that there is a constant deflation when gold and silver are used as money. They grow ever more valuable over time as production grows more efficient and prosperity increase when gold and silver are used as money. This fact utterly refutes the "time value" of money that states that money today is more useful than money tomorrow, which is a lie used to justify charging interest on a loan. A no-interest gold loan, when gold is used as money, is generally repaid with gold and silver that is more valuable than before!)

In contrast to the usefulness of gold and silver as money: If I'm paid in paper money, drawn from a bank, the other party feels a compulsive need to report to the government how much he paid me, in order to keep his paper trail of transactions open for the government to follow. Thus, each transaction is looked at by the government, and is taxed at every step. This taxation harms and discourages economic activity from taking place, and thus is not an efficient process at all, and reduces trade and the exchange of dollars, and hurts the economy.

Furthermore, as paper money always suffers from inflation or hyperinflation, there is a lack of incentive to save and invest, which also hurts future production, and hurts the economy.

Next, the excessive creation of paper money and overvaluation of that paper money creates economic mis-allocations of capital, and dislocations of economic activity. Jobs are lost as workers overseas produce more for less. People over-invest in housing due to the easy money available for home loans.

Price fixing, (especially in the form of a low gold price, or a manipulated low gold price), in all its forms, hurts the economy. Price fixing is a disruption of free market capitalism. Free market capitalism, and free market prices, create the most prosperity for the most participants far more than any other economic system yet invented by man.

When the price of gold is allowed to seek its natural free market level, and when the fraud of paper money is destroyed (and paper debts wiped out), then economic freedom and prosperity will follow. It will be too expensive to wage needless wars, too expensive for a massive totalitarian government, too expensive for social programs that destroy a person's incentive to work.

When gold and silver are used as money, there will be plenty of people available to work, needing to work, and willing to work. There will be plenty of money (since the gold and silver would then be valuable enough to do the work of money). There will be plenty produced, since the economy will be free from debt, free from over-burdensome government regulations, free from excessive taxation. There will be plenty produced and prosperity will follow because gold and silver are more efficient at promoting trade than the fraud of the dollar that is over-valued and excessively-taxed.

Some people will counter with the lie that certainly paper money is lighter, and thus more efficient. Again, not true. I have a 1/10 oz. gold coin that is very light and small, lighter than a stack of $1 bills. I have a 1 oz. gold coin that is lighter and more compact than four stacks of a 100 count, $1 bills. Besides, our coins have become dross, worthless heavy slugs.
I'd rather have a tenth oz. gold coin in my wallet than two twenty-dollar bills. And I'd rather have an oz. of gold than four hundreds. Who really needs to carry around more than an ounce of gold, anyway? (Only for the large and more rare transactions.) Too heavy? Hogwash! Society can pay for the cost to transport bottled water, but transporting gold costs too much? Ridiculous!

Gold and silver are not too heavy to transport. Silver alone may be relatively heavy today, given that it is so undervalued, but when the metal is fairly valued, transportation is not a problem. When an ounce of gold or silver is $100,000/oz., then an oz. of gold or silver will not be "too heavy" to transport. Transportation costs are miniscule to the extreme, and are no justification for the fraud of paper money.

If gold and silver are good for an economy, the parallel point is that fraud is bad for an economy. And since the dollar is fraud, then the dollar is bad for the economy. Yes, it's that simple.
A rising gold price means economic misery for the Federal Reserve, for politicians, for the banks, and for the socialists, and all whom they sponsor, such as the Universities and mass media. A rising gold price means economic freedom and prosperity to everyone else!

Buying gold and silver will bring prosperity not only to you, but also to everyone else! Buying gold and silver is the most useful and economic thing you can do to help bring a positive change to the corruption of society that exists at all levels.

If you would like to learn more about gold and money, please come by and visit goldismoney.com. I also write a free weekly silver stocks report that lists over 80 different silver stocks, and you can sign up to receive it at www.goldismoney.com.

GOLD DEMAND TRENDS

Gold Demand Trends is the World Gold Council's detailed report on supply and demand trends in the global gold market and is launched in key regions across the globe on a quarterly basis.

These reports, which contain comment and analysis on independent data provided by GFMS Limited www.gfms.co.uk include sections on jewellery, investment and industrial and dental demand.

In addition to an overview of global gold supply and demand dynamics, Gold Demand Trends offers insights into trends within key gold consuming countries around the world. An in-depth focus report either on a specific sector or region is also included.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Manufacturers

In Europe, ChipGold is available from Goldas, a large jeweler and retailer (Chain Stores) worldwide. In North America, Halach Gold Inc., founded by the Istanbul Gold Refinery, has a line of trademarked ChipGold called GOLDGRAMTM which are sold through distributors as well as online at mygoldgram.com. Also you can get the wafers (ingots) through auction sites (eBay).




Goldas uses many security features in the packaging of their ChipGold products, including a small hologram, a logo visible only under UV light, a tracking number, the bar's serial number, and a barcode. In an exchange transaction, these security features increase the trust that the vacuum sealed gold wafer is as it is described on the card, contrary to a potentially counterfeit gold coin or counterfeit gold wafer. This is in contrast to a decrease in trust of, and opposing an increasing supply of paper currencies. [1] In Europe, the product is available in certain retail stores.



Other manufacturers of gold bars, including Pamp Suisse, offer similar products.

SYMBOLS

Symbolism


Gold bars at the Emperor Casino in Macau
Gold bars at the Emperor Casino in MacauGold has been highly valued in many societies throughout the ages. In keeping with this it has often had a strongly positive symbolic meaning closely connected to the values held in the highest esteem in the society in question. Gold may symbolize power, strength, wealth, warmth, happiness, love, hope, optimism, intelligence, justice, balance, perfection, summer, harvest and the sun.
Great human achievements are frequently rewarded with gold, in the form of gold medals, golden trophies and other decorations. Winners of athletic events and other graded competitions are usually awarded a gold medal (e.g., the Olympic Games). Many awards such as the Nobel Prize are made from gold as well. Other award statues and prizes are depicted in gold or are gold plated (such as the Academy Awards, the Golden Globe Awards, the Emmy Awards, the Palme d'Or, and the British Academy Film Awards).
Aristotle in his ethics used gold symbolism when referring to what is now commonly known as the "golden mean". Similarly, gold is associated with perfect or divine principles, such as in the case of Phi, which is sometimes called the "golden ratio".
Gold represents great value. Respected people are treated with the most valued rule, the "golden rule". A company may give its most valued customers "gold cards" or make them "gold members". We value moments of peace and therefore we say: "silence is golden". In Greek mythology there was the "golden fleece".
Gold is further associated with the wisdom of aging and fruition. The fiftieth wedding anniversary is golden. Our precious latter years are sometimes considered "golden years". The height of a civilization is referred to as a "golden age".
In Christianity gold has sometimes been associated with the extremities of utmost evil and the greatest sanctity. In the Book of Exodus, the Golden Calf is a symbol of idolatry. In the Book of Genesis, Abraham was said to be rich in gold and silver, and Moses was instructed to cover the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant with pure gold. In Christian art the halos of Christ, Mary and the Christian saints are golden.
Medieval kings were inaugurated under the signs of sacred oil and a golden crown, the latter symbolizing the eternal shining light of heaven and thus a Christian king's divinely inspired authority. Wedding rings have long been made of gold. It is long lasting and unaffected by the passage of time and may aid in the ring symbolism of eternal vows before god and/or the sun and moon and the perfection the marriage signifies. In Orthodox Christianity, the wedded couple is adorned with a golden crown during the ceremony, an amalgamation of symbolic rites.
In popular culture gold holds many connotations but is most generally connected to terms such as good or great, such as in the phrases: "has a heart of gold", "that's golden!", "golden moment", "then you're golden!" and "golden boy". Gold also still holds its place as a symbol of wealth and through that, in many societies, success.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Price

Price

Swiss-cast 1 kg gold bar
Gold price per troy ounce in USD since 1960, in nominal US$ and inflation adjusted in 2008 US$.Like other precious metals, gold is measured by troy weight and by grams. When it is alloyed with other metals the term carat or karat is used to indicate the amount of gold present, with 24 carats being pure gold and lower ratings proportionally less. The purity of a gold bar or coin can also be expressed as a decimal figure ranging from 0 to 1, known as the millesimal fineness, such as 0.995 being very pure.

The price of gold is determined through trading in the gold and derivatives markets, but a procedure known as the Gold Fixing in London, originating in September 1919, provides a daily benchmark price to the industry. The afternoon fixing was introduced in 1968 to provide a price when US markets are open.

Historically gold coinage was widely used as currency; When paper money was introduced, it typically was a receipt redeemable for gold coin or bullion. In an economic system known as the gold standard, a certain weight of gold was given the name of a unit of currency. For a long period, the United States government set the value of the US dollar so that one troy ounce was equal to $20.67 ($664.56/kg), but in 1934 the dollar was devalued to $35.00 per troy ounce ($1125.27/kg). By 1961, it was becoming hard to maintain this price, and a pool of US and European banks agreed to manipulate the market to prevent further currency devaluation against increased gold demand.

Swiss-cast 1 kg gold barOn March 17, 1968, economic circumstances caused the collapse of the gold pool, and a two-tiered pricing scheme was established whereby gold was still used to settle international accounts at the old $35.00 per troy ounce ($1.13/g) but the price of gold on the private market was allowed to fluctuate; this two-tiered pricing system was abandoned in 1975 when the price of gold was left to find its free-market level. Central banks still hold historical gold reserves as a store of value although the level has generally been declining. The largest gold depository in the world is that of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank in New York, which holds about 3%[citation needed] of the gold ever mined, as does the similarly laden U.S. Bullion Depository at Fort Knox.

In 2005 the World Gold Council estimated total global gold supply to be 3,859 tonnes and demand to be 3,754 tonnes, giving a surplus of 105 tonnes.[69]

Since 1968 the price of gold has ranged widely, from a high of $850/oz ($27,300/kg) on January 21, 1980, to a low of $252.90/oz ($8,131/kg) on June 21, 1999 (London Gold Fixing).[70] The period from 1999 to 2001 marked the "Brown Bottom" after a 20-year bear market.[71] Prices increased rapidly from 1991, but the 1980 high was not exceeded until January 3, 2008 when a new maximum of $865.35 per troy ounce was set (a.m. London Gold Fixing).[72] Another record price was set on March 17, 2008 at $1023.50/oz ($32,900/kg)(am. London Gold Fixing).[72] In the fall of 2009, gold markets experience renewed momentum upwards due to increased demand and a weakening US dollar. On December 2, 2009, Gold passed the important barrier of US$1200 per ounce to close at $1215.[73] Gold further rallied hitting new highs in May of 2010 after the European Union debt crisis prompted further purchase of gold as a safe asset.[74][75]

Since April 2001 the gold price has more than tripled in value against the US dollar,[76] prompting speculation that this long secular bear market has ended and a bull market has returned.[77]

Chemistry

Chemistry

Pure gold precipitate produced by the aqua regia refining process
Although gold is a noble metal, it forms many and diverse compounds. The oxidation state of gold in its compounds ranges from −1 to +5, but Au(I) and Au(III) dominate its chemistry. Au(I), referred to as the aurous ion, is the most common oxidation state with soft ligands such as thioethers, thiolates, and tertiary phosphines. Au(I) compounds are typically linear. A good example is Au(CN)2−, which is the soluble form of gold encountered in mining. Curiously, aurous complexes of water are rare. The binary gold halides, such as AuCl, form zigzag polymeric chains, again featuring linear coordination at Au. Most drugs based on gold are Au(I) derivatives.[56]

Au(III) (auric) is a common oxidation state and is illustrated by gold(III) chloride, AuCl3. Au(III) complexes, like other d8 compounds, are typically square planar.

Aqua regia, a 1:3 mixture of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid, dissolves gold. Nitric acid oxidizes the metal to +3 ions, but only in minute amounts, typically undetectable in the pure acid because of the chemical equilibrium of the reaction. However, the ions are removed from the equilibrium by hydrochloric acid, forming AuCl4− ions, or chloroauric acid, thereby enabling further oxidation.

Some free halogens react with gold.[57] Gold also reacts in alkaline solutions of potassium cyanide. With mercury, it forms an amalgam.
Less common oxidation states

Less common oxidation states of gold include −1, +2, and +5.

The −1 oxidation state occurs in compounds containing the Au− anion, called aurides. Caesium auride (CsAu), for example, crystallizes in the caesium chloride motif.[58] Other aurides include those of Rb+, K+, and tetramethylammonium (CH3)4N+.[59]

Gold(II) compounds are usually diamagnetic with Au–Au bonds such as [Au(CH2)2P(C6H5)2]2Cl2. The evaporation of a solution of Au(OH)3 in concentrated H2SO4 produces red crystals of gold(II) sulfate, AuSO4. Originally thought to be a mixed-valence compound, it has been shown to contain Au4+2 cations.[60][61] A noteworthy, legitimate gold(II) complex is the tetraxenonogold(II) cation, which contains xenon as a ligand, found in [AuXe4](Sb2F11)2.[62]

Gold pentafluoride and its derivative anion, AuF−6, is the sole example of gold(V), the highest verified oxidation state.[63]

Some gold compounds exhibit aurophilic bonding, which describes the tendency of gold ions to interact at distances that are too long to be a conventional Au–Au bond but shorter that van der Waals bonding. The interaction is estimated to be comparable in strength to that of a hydrogen bond

Mixed valence compounds


Well-defined cluster compounds are numerous.[59] In such cases, gold has a fractional oxidation state. A representative example is the octahedral species {Au(P(C6H5)3)}62+. Gold chalcogenides, such as gold sulfide, feature equal amounts of Au(I) and Au(III).

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION OF GOLD

PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION OF GOLD.

Gold extraction is most economical in large, easily mined deposits. Ore grades as little as 0.5 mg/kg (0.5 parts per million, ppm) can be economical. Typical ore grades in open-pit mines are 1–5 mg/kg (1–5 ppm); ore grades in underground or hard rock mines are usually at least 3 mg/kg (3 ppm). Because ore grades of 30 mg/kg (30 ppm) are usually needed before gold is visible to the naked eye, in most gold mines the gold is invisible.


Since the 1880s, South Africa has been the source for a large proportion of the world's gold supply, with about 50% of all gold ever produced having come from South Africa. Production in 1970 accounted for 79% of the world supply, producing about 1,480 tonnes. 2008 production was 2,260 tonnes. In 2007 China (with 276 tonnes) overtook South Africa as the world's largest gold producer, the first time since 1905 that South Africa has not been the largest.[46]

The city of Johannesburg located in South Africa was founded as a result of the Witwatersrand Gold Rush which resulted in the discovery of some of the largest gold deposits the world has ever seen. Gold fields located within the basin in the Free State and Gauteng provinces are extensive in strike and dip requiring some of the world's deepest mines, with the Savuka and TauTona mines being currently the world's deepest gold mine at 3,777 m. The Second Boer War of 1899–1901 between the British Empire and the Afrikaner Boers was at least partly over the rights of miners and possession of the gold wealth in South Africa.

Other major producers are the United States, Australia, Russia and Peru. Mines in South Dakota and Nevada supply two-thirds of gold used in the United States. In South America, the controversial project Pascua Lama aims at exploitation of rich fields in the high mountains of Atacama Desert, at the border between Chile and Argentina. Today about one-quarter of the world gold output is estimated to originate from artisanal or small scale mining.[47]

After initial production, gold is often subsequently refined industrially by the Wohlwill process which is based on electrolysis or by the Miller process, that is chlorination in the melt. The Wohlwill process results in higher purity, but is more complex and is only applied in small-scale installations.[48][49] Other methods of assaying and purifying smaller amounts of gold include parting and inquartation as well as cupellation, or refining methods based on the dissolution of gold in aqua regia.[50]

At the end of 2006, it was estimated that all the gold ever mined totaled 158,000 tonnes[51] and its January 2009 issue, National Geographic magazine writes: "In all of history, only 161,000 tons of gold have been mined, barely enough to fill two Olympic-size swimming pools."[1] This can be represented by a cube with an edge length of about 20.28 meters. The value of this is very limited; at $1000 per ounce, 161,000 tons of gold would have a value of only 5.2 trillion dollars.

The average gold mining and extraction costs were about US$317/oz in 2007, but these can vary widely depending on mining type and ore quality; global mine production amounted to 2,471.1 tonnes.[52]

Gold is so stable and so valuable that it is always recovered and recycled. There is no true consumption of gold in the economic sense; the stock of gold remains essentially constant while ownership shifts from one party to another.[53]

Consumption.

India is the world's largest consumer of gold, as Indians buy about 25% of the world's gold,[54] purchasing approximately 800 tonnes of gold every year. India is also the largest importer of the yellow metal; in 2008, India imported around 400 tonnes of gold.[55]
The entrance to an underground gold mine in Victoria, Australia

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Occurrence

Occurrence



Gold's atomic number of 79 makes it one of the higher atomic number elements which occur naturally. Like all elements with atomic numbers larger than iron, gold is thought to have been formed from a supernova nucleosynthesis process. Their explosions scattered metal-containing dusts (including heavy elements like gold) into the region of space in which they later condensed into our solar system and the Earth.[39]


On Earth, whenever elemental gold occurs, it appears most often as a metal solid solution of gold with silver, i.e. a gold silver alloy. Such alloys usually have a silver content of 8–10%. Electrum is elemental gold with more than 20% silver. Electrum's color runs from golden-silvery to silvery, dependent upon the silver content. The more silver, the lower the specific gravity.

Relative sizes of an 860 kg block of gold ore, and the 30 g of gold that can be extracted from it. Toi gold mine, Japan.

Gold left behind after a pyrite cube was oxidized to hematite. Note cubic shape of cavity.Gold is found in ores made up of rock with very small or microscopic particles of gold. This gold ore is often found together with quartz or sulfide minerals such as Fool's Gold, which is a pyrite.[40] These are called "lode" deposits. Native gold is also found in the form of free flakes, grains or larger nuggets that have been eroded from rocks and end up in alluvial deposits (called placer deposits). Such free gold is always richer at the surface of gold-bearing veins owing to the oxidation of accompanying minerals followed by weathering, and washing of the dust into streams and rivers, where it collects and can be welded by water action to form nuggets.

Gold sometimes occurs combined with tellurium as the minerals calaverite, krennerite, nagyagite, petzite and sylvanite, and as the rare bismuthide maldonite (Au2Bi) and antimonide aurostibite (AuSb2). Gold also occurs in rare alloys with copper, lead, and mercury: the minerals auricupride (Cu3Au), novodneprite (AuPb3) and weishanite ((Au, Ag)3Hg2).

Recent research suggests that microbes can sometimes play an important role in forming gold deposits, transporting and precipitating gold to form grains and nuggets that collect in alluvial deposits.[41]

The world's oceans contain gold. Measured concentrations of gold in the Atlantic and Northeast Pacific are 50–150 fmol/L or 10-30 parts per quadrillion. In general, Au concentrations for Atlantic and Pacific samples are the same (~50 fmol/L) but less certain. Mediterranean deep waters contain higher concentrations of Au (100–150 fmol/L) attributed to wind-blown dust and/or rivers. At 10 parts per quadrillion the Earth's oceans would hold 15,000 tons of gold[42]. These figures are three orders of magnitude less than reported in the literature prior to 1988, indicating contamination problems with the earlier data.

A number of people have claimed to be able to economically recover gold from sea water, but so far they have all been either mistaken or crooks. A so-called reverend, Prescott Jernegan ran a gold-from-seawater swindle in the United States in the 1890s. A British fraudster ran the same scam in England in the early 1900s.[43] Fritz Haber (the German inventor of the Haber process) did research on the extraction of gold from sea water in an effort to help pay Germany's reparations following World War I.[44] Based on the published values of 2 to 64 ppb of gold in seawater a commercially successful extraction seemed possible. After analysis of 4000 water samples yielding an average of 0.004 ppb it became clear that the extraction would not be possible and he stopped the project.[45] No commercially viable mechanism for performing gold extraction from sea water has yet been identified. Gold synthesis is not economically viable and is unlikely to become so in the foreseeable future





"Rope gold" from Lena River, Sakha Republic, Russia. Size: 2.5×1.2×0.7 cm.


 
 


Gold leaf from Harvard Mine, Jamestown, California, USA. Size 9.3×3.2× >0.1 cm.

Use and applications

Monetary exchange


Gold has been widely used throughout the world as a vehicle for monetary exchange, either by issuance and recognition of gold coins or other bare metal quantities, or through gold-convertible paper instruments by establishing gold standards in which the total value of issued money is represented in a store of gold reserves.
                 
                However, the amount of gold in the world is finite and production has not grown in relation to the world's economies. Today, gold mining output is declining.[9] With the sharp growth of economies in the 20th century, and increasing foreign exchange, the world's gold reserves and their trading market have become a small fraction of all markets and fixed exchange rates of currencies to gold became unsustainable. At the beginning of World War I the warring nations moved to a fractional gold standard, inflating their currencies to finance the war effort. After World War II gold was replaced by a system of convertible currency following the Bretton Woods system. Gold standards and the direct convertibility of currencies to gold have been abandoned by world governments, being replaced by fiat currency in their stead. Switzerland was the last country to tie its currency to gold; it backed 40% of its value until the Swiss joined the International Monetary Fund in 1999.[10]
              Pure gold is too soft for day-to-day monetary use and is typically hardened by alloying with copper, silver or other base metals. The gold content of alloys is measured in carats (k). Pure gold is designated as 24k. Gold coins intended for circulation from 1526 into the 1930s were typically a standard 22k alloy called crown gold, for hardness.


Investment

Many holders of gold store it in form of bullion coins or bars as a hedge against inflation or other economic disruptions. However, some economists do not believe gold serves as a hedge against inflation or currency depreciation.[11]

The ISO 4217 currency code of gold is XAU.

Modern bullion coins for investment or collector purposes do not require good mechanical wear properties; they are typically fine gold at 24k, although the American Gold Eagle, the British gold sovereign, and the South African Krugerrand continue to be minted in 22k metal in historical tradition. The special issue Canadian Gold Maple Leaf coin contains the highest purity gold of any bullion coin, at 99.999% or 0.99999, while the popular issue Canadian Gold Maple Leaf coin has a purity of 99.99%. Several other 99.99% pure gold coins are available. The Australian Gold Kangaroos was first coined in 1986 as the Australian Gold Nugget. Its kangaroo theme appeared in 1989. In addition, there are several coins of the Australian Lunar Calendar series, and the Austrian Philharmonic. In 2006, the United States Mint began production of the American Buffalo gold bullion coin with a purity of 99.99%.

Jewelry


Moche gold necklace depicting feline heads. Larco Museum Collection. Lima-PeruBecause of the softness of pure (24k) gold, it is usually alloyed with base metals for use in jewelry, altering its hardness and ductility, melting point, color and other properties. Alloys with lower caratage, typically 22k, 18k, 14k or 10k, contain higher percentages of copper, or other base metals or silver or palladium in the alloy. Copper is the most commonly used base metal, yielding a redder color. Eighteen-carat gold containing 25% copper is found in antique and Russian jewelry and has a distinct, though not dominant, copper cast, creating rose gold. Fourteen-carat gold-copper alloy is nearly identical in color to certain bronze alloys, and both may be used to produce police, as well as other, badges. Blue gold can be made by alloying with iron and purple gold can be made by alloying with aluminium, although rarely done except in specialized jewelry. Blue gold is more brittle and therefore more difficult to work with when making jewelry. Fourteen and eighteen carat gold alloys with silver alone appear greenish-yellow and are referred to as green gold. White gold alloys can be made with palladium or nickel. White 18-carat gold containing 17.3% nickel, 5.5% zinc and 2.2% copper is silvery in appearance. Nickel is toxic, however, and its release from nickel white gold is controlled by legislation in Europe. Alternative white gold alloys are available based on palladium, silver and other white metals,[12] but the palladium alloys are more expensive than those using nickel. High-carat white gold alloys are far more resistant to corrosion than are either pure silver or sterling silver. The Japanese craft of Mokume-gane exploits the color contrasts between laminated colored gold alloys to produce decorative wood-grain effects.

Medicine


In medieval times, gold was often seen as beneficial for the health, in the belief that something that rare and beautiful could not be anything but healthy. Even some modern esotericists and forms of alternative medicine assign metallic gold a healing power.[13] Some gold salts do have anti-inflammatory properties and are used as pharmaceuticals in the treatment of arthritis and other similar conditions.[14] However, only salts and radioisotopes of gold are of pharmacological value, as elemental (metallic) gold is inert to all chemicals it encounters inside the body. In modern times, injectable gold has been proven to help to reduce the pain and swelling of rheumatoid arthritis and tuberculosis.[14][15]
                     Gold alloys are used in restorative dentistry, especially in tooth restorations, such as crowns and permanent bridges. The gold alloys' slight malleability facilitates the creation of a superior molar mating surface with other teeth and produces results that are generally more satisfactory than those produced by the creation of porcelain crowns. The use of gold crowns in more prominent teeth such as incisors is favored in some cultures and discouraged in others.

                 Colloidal gold preparations (suspensions of gold nanoparticles) in water are intensely red-colored, and can be made with tightly controlled particle sizes up to a few tens of nanometers across by reduction of gold chloride with citrate or ascorbate ions. Colloidal gold is used in research applications in medicine, biology and materials science. The technique of immunogold labeling exploits the ability of the gold particles to adsorb protein molecules onto their surfaces. Colloidal gold particles coated with specific antibodies can be used as probes for the presence and position of antigens on the surfaces of cells.[16] In ultrathin sections of tissues viewed by electron microscopy, the immunogold labels appear as extremely dense round spots at the position of the antigen.[17] Colloidal gold is also the form of gold used as gold paint on ceramics prior to firing.

                      Gold, or alloys of gold and palladium, are applied as conductive coating to biological specimens and other non-conducting materials such as plastics and glass to be viewed in a scanning electron microscope. The coating, which is usually applied by sputtering with an argon plasma, has a triple role in this application. Gold's very high electrical conductivity drains electrical charge to earth, and its very high density provides stopping power for electrons in the electron beam, helping to limit the depth to which the electron beam penetrates the specimen. This improves definition of the position and topography of the specimen surface and increases the spatial resolution of the image. Gold also produces a high output of secondary electrons when irradiated by an electron beam, and these low-energy electrons are the most commonly used signal source used in the scanning electron microscope.[18]
                 The isotope gold-198, (half-life 2.7 days) is used in some cancer treatments and for treating other diseases.[19]

Food and drink


Gold can be used in food and has the E number 175.[20]
Gold leaf, flake or dust is used on and in some gourmet foods, notably sweets and drinks as decorative ingredient.[21] Gold flake was used by the nobility in Medieval Europe as a decoration in food and drinks, in the form of leaf, flakes or dust, either to demonstrate the host's wealth or in the belief that something that valuable and rare must be beneficial for one's health. Gold foil along with silver is sometimes used in South Asian sweets such as barfi.[22]

Goldwasser (English: Goldwater) is a traditional herbal liqueur produced in Gdańsk, Poland, and Schwabach, Germany, and contains flakes of gold leaf. There are also some expensive (~$1000) cocktails which contain flakes of gold leaf.[23] However, since metallic gold is inert to all body chemistry, it adds no taste nor has it any other nutritional effect and leaves the body unaltered.[24]

Industry

The 220 kg gold brick displayed in Chinkuashi Gold Museum, Taiwan, Republic of China

The world's largest gold bar weighs 250 kg. Toi museum, Japan.

A gold nugget of 5 mm in diameter (bottom) can be expanded through hammering into a gold foil of about 0.5 square meter. Toi museum, Japan.Gold solder is used for joining the components of gold jewelry by high-temperature hard soldering or brazing. If the work is to be of hallmarking quality, gold solder must match the carat weight of the work, and alloy formulas are manufactured in most industry-standard carat weights to color match yellow and white gold. Gold solder is usually made in at least three melting-point ranges referred to as Easy, Medium and Hard. By using the hard, high-melting point solder first, followed by solders with progressively lower melting points, goldsmiths can assemble complex items with several separate soldered joints.

Gold can be made into thread and used in embroidery.

Gold is ductile and malleable, meaning it can be drawn into very thin wire and can be beaten into very thin sheets known as gold leaf.

Gold produces a deep, intense red color when used as a coloring agent in cranberry glass.

In photography, gold toners are used to shift the color of silver bromide black and white prints towards brown or blue tones, or to increase their stability. Used on sepia-toned prints, gold toners produce red tones. Kodak published formulas for several types of gold toners, which use gold as the chloride.[25]

As gold is a good reflector of electromagnetic radiation such as infrared and visible light as well as radio waves, it is used for the protective coatings on many artificial satellites, in infrared protective faceplates in thermal protection suits and astronauts' helmets and in electronic warfare planes like the EA-6B Prowler.

Gold is used as the reflective layer on some high-end CDs.

Automobiles may use gold for heat dissipation. McLaren uses gold foil in the engine compartment of its F1 model.[26]

Gold can be manufactured so thin that it appears transparent. It is used in some aircraft cockpit windows for de-icing or anti-icing by passing electricity through it. The heat produced by the resistance of the gold is enough to deter ice from forming.[27]

Electronics

The concentration of free electrons in gold metal is 5.90×1022 cm−3. Gold is highly conductive to electricity, and has been used for electrical wiring in some high-energy applications (silver is even more conductive per volume, but gold has the advantage of corrosion resistance). For example, gold electrical wires were used during some of the Manhattan Project's atomic experiments, but large high current silver wires were used in the calutron isotope separator magnets in the project.

Though gold is attacked by free chlorine, its good conductivity and general resistance to oxidation and corrosion in other environments (including resistance to non-chlorinated acids) has led to its widespread industrial use in the electronic era as a thin layer coating electrical connectors of all kinds, thereby ensuring good connection. For example, gold is used in the connectors of the more expensive electronics cables, such as audio, video and USB cables. The benefit of using gold over other connector metals such as tin in these applications is highly debated. Gold connectors are often criticized by audio-visual experts as unnecessary for most consumers and seen as simply a marketing ploy. However, the use of gold in other applications in electronic sliding contacts in highly humid or corrosive atmospheres, and in use for contacts with a very high failure cost (certain computers, communications equipment, spacecraft, jet aircraft engines) remains very common.[28]

Besides sliding electrical contacts, gold is also used in electrical contacts because of its resistance to corrosion, electrical conductivity, ductility and lack of toxicity.[29] Switch contacts are generally subjected to more intense corrosion stress than are sliding contacts. Fine gold wires are used to connect semiconductor devices to their packages through a process known as wire bonding.



Chemistry

Gold is attacked by and dissolves in alkaline solutions of potassium or sodium cyanide, and gold cyanide is the electrolyte used in commercial electroplating of gold onto base metals and electroforming. Gold chloride (chloroauric acid) solutions are used to make colloidal gold by reduction with citrate or ascorbate ions. Gold chloride and gold oxide are used to make highly valued cranberry or red-colored glass, which, like colloidal gold suspensions, contains evenly sized spherical gold nanoparticles.[30]

CHARACTERISTICS OF GOLD

CHARACTERISTICS OF GOLD.

Gold is the most malleable and ductile of all metals; a single gram can be beaten into a sheet of 1 square meter, or an ounce into 300 square feet. Gold leaf can be beaten thin enough to become translucent. The transmitted light appears greenish blue, because gold strongly reflects yellow and red.[2] Such semi-transparent sheets also strongly reflect infrared light, making them useful as infrared (radiant heat) shields in visors of heat-resistant suits, and in sun-visors for spacesuits.[3]



Gold readily creates alloys with many other metals. These alloys can be produced to modify the hardness and other metallurgical properties, to control melting point or to create exotic colors (see below).[4] Gold is a good conductor of heat and electricity and reflects infrared radiation strongly. Chemically, it is unaffected by air, moisture and most corrosive reagents, and is therefore well suited for use in coins and jewelry and as a protective coating on other, more reactive, metals. However, it is not chemically inert.



Common oxidation states of gold include +1 (gold(I) or aurous compounds) and +3 (gold(III) or auric compounds). Gold ions in solution are readily reduced and precipitated out as gold metal by adding any other metal as the reducing agent. The added metal is oxidized and dissolves allowing the gold to be displaced from solution and be recovered as a solid precipitate.



High quality pure metallic gold is tasteless and scentless; in keeping with its resistance to corrosion (it is metal ions which confer taste to metals).[5]



In addition, gold is very dense, a cubic meter weighing 19,300 kg. By comparison, the density of lead is 11,340 kg/m3, and that of the densest element, osmium, is 22,610 kg/m3.


COLOR.

Whereas most other pure metals are gray or silvery white, gold is yellow. This color is determined by the density of loosely bound (valence) electrons; those electrons oscillate as a collective "plasma" medium described in terms of a quasiparticle called plasmon. The frequency of these oscillations lies in the ultraviolet range for most metals, but it falls into the visible range for gold due to subtle relativistic effects that affect the orbitals around gold atoms.[6][7] Similar effects impart a golden hue to metallic cesium (see relativistic quantum chemistry).



Common colored gold alloys such as rose gold can be created by the addition of various amounts of copper and silver, as indicated in the triangular diagram to the left. Alloys containing palladium or nickel are also important in commercial jewelry as these produce white gold alloys. Less commonly, addition of manganese, aluminium, iron, indium and other elements can produce more unusual colors of gold for various applications.


ISOTOPES.
Main article: Isotopes of gold


Gold has only one stable isotope, 197Au, which is also its only naturally occurring isotope. Thirty six radioisotopes have been synthesized ranging in atomic mass from 169 to 205. The most stable of these is 195Au with a half-life of 186.1 days. 195Au is also the only gold isotope to decay by electron capture. The least stable is 171Au, which decays by proton emission with a half-life of 30 µs. Most of gold's radioisotopes with atomic masses below 197 decay by some combination of proton emission, α decay, and β+ decay. The exceptions are 195Au, which decays by electron capture, and 196Au, which has a minor β- decay path. All of gold's radioisotopes with atomic masses above 197 decay by β- decay.[8]



At least 32 nuclear isomers have also been characterized, ranging in atomic mass from 170 to 200. Within that range, only 178Au, 180Au, 181Au, 182Au, and 188Au do not have isomers. Gold's most stable isomer is 198 m2Au with a half-life of 2.27 days. Gold's least stable isomer is 177 m2Au with a half-life of only 7 ns. 184 m1Au has three decay paths: β+ decay, isomeric transition, and alpha decay. No other isomer or isotope of gold has three decay paths.[8]

This article is about the yello metal.

Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from Latin: aurum, "shining dawn") and an atomic number of 79. It has been a highly sought-after precious metal for coinage, jewelry, and other arts since the beginning of recorded history. The metal occurs as nuggets or grains in rocks, in veins and in alluvial deposits. Gold is dense, soft, shiny and the most malleable and ductile pure metal known. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Gold is one of the coinage metals and has served as a symbol of wealth and a store of value throughout history. Gold standards have provided a basis for monetary policies. It also has been linked to a variety of symbolisms and ideologies.

A total of 161,000 tonnes of gold have been mined in human history, as of 2009.[1] This is roughly equivalent to 5.175 billion troy ounces or, in terms of volume, about 8,333 cubic meters.

Although primarily used as a store of value, gold has many modern industrial uses including dentistry and electronics. Gold has traditionally found use because of its good resistance to oxidative corrosion and excellent quality as a conductor of electricity.

Chemically, gold is a transition metal and can form trivalent and univalent cations in solutions. Compared with other metals, pure gold is chemically least reactive, but it is attacked by aqua regia (a mixture of acids), forming chloroauric acid, but not by the individual acids, and by alkaline solutions of cyanide. Gold dissolves in mercury, forming amalgam alloys, but does not react with it. Gold is insoluble in nitric acid, which dissolves silver and base metals. This property is exploited in the gold refining technique known as "inquartation and parting". Nitric acid has long been used to confirm the presence of gold in items, and this is the origin of the colloquial term "acid test", referring to a gold standard test for genuine value.

5 NEW YEAR GIFTS FOR YOUR GIRL FRIEND UNDER THE BUDGET OF 50$

  GIRLS WOULD LOVE IT. Don’t waste the time and enjoy your golden moments with your loved once. Let’s celebrate the 2021 with loved once...

Online order delivery form / contact us

Name

Email *

Message *