Metals / Gold

• Gold Crucifies Doubters

  Gold (GLD) blasted through to an all time high last night, doubters and naysayers carping all the way up that it was overpriced. The white metals of silver (SLV), platinum (PPLT), and palladium (PALL) were firm, but were clearly being held back by flagging industrial demand in front of a potential double dip scenario for the economy. Sales of one ounce American eagle gold coins has roared to an 11 year high, and there is a risk than the US Mint will run out of blanks. Other gold coins providers are seeing the same. The maker of South Africa's krugerrands…

• The New California Gold Rush

  The gold rush is back on in California. On my way back from Lake Tahoe recently, I saw that every bend of the American river was dotted with hopeful amateur miners, looking to make a windfall fortune. Weekend hobbyists were there panning away from the banks, while the hardcore pros stood in hip waders balancing portable pumps on truck inner tubes, pouring sand into sluice boxes. A sharp-eyed veteran can take in $2,000 worth of gold dust a day. The new 2010'ers were driven by a record price of gold at $1,220 and the attendant headlines, but also by unemployment,…

• How far will gold Run?

  The good news is that you no longer have to be crazy to buy gold. Until recently, certifiable believers chasing the barbaric relic were driven by a host of urban legends and conspiracy theories, such as the imminent bankruptcy of the US Treasury, Fort Knox holding only titanium bars that had been painted gold, Weimar style hyperinflation that is just around the corner, or the gold ETF (GLD) owning only paper, and not physical gold. No more. The long term structural demand for the yellow metal is now so well known, that I can read about it in the tabloids…

• Gold: Fear, Uncertainty & Goldman Sachs. Where do Prices Go from Here?

  Gold fell the most in two months as the SEC’s action against Goldman Sachs (GS) spurred investors rushing out of riskier commodities and into perceived safer assets such as the U.S. dollar. Futures for June delivery slid 2% in one day to $1,136.90 an ounce. Paulson Linked to Goldman’s Case Goldman Sachs, the largest U.S. commodity broker, is charged with defrauding investors with a financial product tied to subprime mortgages by the Security Exchange Commission (SEC). In addition, hedge fund Paulson & Co. is also mentioned by the SEC, but not charged, in connection with the Goldman Sachs matter. Paulson…

• Gold Futures Take Flight Over the proposed E.U. Bailout of Greece

  The action in gold on Friday was notable. Spot gold jumped over $5. And the rally has continued this morning, with gold now back above $1,110 for the first time in over a week. The jump appears to have been driven by concerns over an proposed E.U. bailout of Greece, as well as political fears after the sinking of a South Korean ship near the border with North Korea. Here's what's more interesting. Gold futures took flight on Friday. To a much greater degree than the spot price. Spreads on the front-month contract leaped from $0.60 to $13.30. And the…

• Solid Gold Brains

  One of the most valuable things a mining company can have is expertise. Exploring for, delineating, and mining ore bodies is an extremely tough business. The success rates for going from a discovery through to positive feasibility through to first production (and actually making money on this process) are right of the decimal point. To paraphrase Thomas Edison, there are literally thousands of ways to not come up with an economic mine. A lot of people are learning this the hard way. With metals having become one of the hottest sectors on the planet this year, new players are entering…

• Groundbreaking Developments in Gold and Mineral Exploration

  I'm spending a few days in Toronto at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada annual conference. This is one of the mining industry's largest events. Thousands of companies descend on the site to promote their projects. Financiers from across the globe come armed with billions of dollars slated for mineral investment. Meetings with these individuals are often interesting. Yesterday my partner Phil O'Neill and I sat down with a fund manager who represents a group of the most famous investors on Wall Street. He told us how these finance giants believe gold will be the best bet of the…

• Thoughts from Asia's Gold Exchange

  The Tokyo Commodities Exchange is a pretty unassuming place. The Exchange is housed in a non-descript eight-story office building. In the relatively non-descript Tokyo borough of Kodenmacho, far from the hustle of the business districts. In times past, the area was the center for Tokyo's cotton trade. The exchange sprung up in service of this industry. Today, the firm no longer trades cotton but instead specializes in oil, rubber and especially precious metals. Passing by on the street, you'd never guess this is the second-largest gold exchange in the world. In 2008, more than $300 billion worth of precious metals…

• Why Are We So Obsessed With Gold?

  Have you ever stopped to consider just what it is about gold that makes it so special and valuable? How is it that while gold is undoubtedly the most famous, popular, frequently written about and widely discussed metal in existence, so many still know so very little about it? The word "gold" comes from the Old English word “geolo” which means yellow. Gold is extremely dense, yet amazingly soft and malleable. It is highly attractive, bright, shiny,   almost glowingly radiant metal that is resistant to such deprecating factors as corrosion and rust in both air and water. A very pliable…