More
than 6,000 years ago archeologists learned that it was the Sumerians (modern
day Iraq) who first mastered metallurgy and among the ores they’ve extracted
from the ground included iron, copper, zinc, bronze, silver and gold. According
to the translated writings (cuneiform) of the Sumerians it was their gods the
Annunaki who demanded tons of gold from the Earth to take back to their
“heavenly abode.” It would seem that the insatiable desire of the Sumerian gods
for this raw material is as legendary as ours today. But what makes gold so
precious that a lot of people would go through great lengths to acquire it?
Gold in History
The
ancient civilizations, the Sumerians, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, Egyptians,
Persians, Greeks and Romans also value gold at the highest esteem in trade and
commerce among other things. Even the legendary city of Troy is said to have
contained vast treasures of gold and other precious jewelry in their treasure
vault and during the time of the Renaissance and all the way up to the 20th
century gold is still as precious as ever. In almost every war that have ever
occurred in history the victors would always carry the conquered treasures away
back to their homeland, and the most valued treasure was always gold. The
movies “The Three Kings” and “The A-Team” depict that in modern times and
during wars some soldiers would go as far as disobeying orders just to get
their hands on the precious gold bars of the countries that they have invaded.
Humanity as it seems have no end to its cravings for precious Earth minerals
such as gold, silver, platinum and other precious stones.
Properties of Gold
There
are only few places on Earth where you can find gold, but even though it can be
quite difficult to mine it from the ground; however, just 1 gram of it is worth
$66.65 USD! Gold is also a very efficient electrical conductor and at the same
time a very good material to use against gamma radiation and other cosmic rays,
which is why NASA and other space agencies use it in spades on their
satellites, space stations and rocket ships. A mid-tier heat resistant
material, gold’s melting point is just a little over 1,000° Celsius or 1,832°
Fahrenheit. Gold is among the few metals that is very malleable and can be
molded to any shape or form and is the reason why many gold jewelry are
fashioned with engravings, images and other sculptures and works of art. Gold
therefore is not only an integral part of the world’s economic structure but a
very useful material as well.
Uses of Gold
Gold
has been known to be used in making jewelry, in coinage, bullion and backing of
currencies; electronics, computers, various medical procedures, dentistry, aerospace,
awards and status symbols, glass manufacturing, gold gilding and gold leaf. As
technology moves forward there will surely be more requirements for gold to be
used as somewhat of a core material in making scientific breakthroughs and
technological development. However, gold is such an expensive material and will
not be cost-efficient in terms of large scale use; therefore scientists and
other experts are looking for ways to create a synthetic material that will
have at least 90% of the properties of gold at 10 times cheaper and can be mass
produced easily. It’s a long road ahead before we can produce synthetic gold
but there’s no reason not to be optimistic.
Still in Demand and
Tips the Scales in Financial Markets
When
the United States was hit with national financial meltdown (which soon became
known as the recession of 2008), Europe, South America, Africa, the Middle East
and South East Asia followed not long after. The only countries that were least
affected were Russia due to its oil exports, arms sales and in-demand aerospace
industry; China because of the very large workforce it controls, raw materials
and wide diplomatic ties; Australia and Canada seemed to have benefitted from
the market crash but only very slightly as their economy became more favorable
than that of America. Notably the only countries in the Eurozone that were
least affected by the global financial crisis are France, Britain and Germany.
Germany
has over $200 billion worth of gold bullion in the New York Federal Reserve Bank
(currently being repatriated), which makes up 73% of the world’s gold reserves;
while France has 2,435.4 tonnes of it stored in Banque De France (which is the
French National Bank and the UK has a meager 310.3 tonnes of gold or roughly
16% of the world’s gold reserves. These nations represent the backbone of the
European Union because of their unusually large gold reserves that can
instantly turn the tables when a financial crisis strikes.
The World’s Largest
Gold Mines and the Companies that Controls it
Some
areas of the planet contains more gold than all the gold reserves in the world
and among them include Grasberg Gold Mine, which is located in Papua – a small
province in Indonesia. Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. owns this gold
mine and estimates suggest that this site has given up more than 2,025,000
ounces of gold already and is still giving more. Meanwhile the Muruntau Gold
Mine in Uzbekistan ranks as the world’s second largest gold mine producing gold
in excess of 1,800,000 ounces in 2012. Navoi Mining and Metallurgical Combinat
owns and controls this site primarily and have expanded their business four
times over due to the amount of gold that they mine each year. The Carlin-Nevada
Complex is currently the biggest gold mine in the mainland U.S. somewhere in
the state of Nevada.
Newmont
Mining Corp. purchased the land ownership of this are and setup a huge mining
facility over it, for which this gold mine has caused their ROI
(return-on-investment) to more than 3 times what they’ve put in when they were
able to extract 1.735 million ounces from it back in 2010. Yanacocha Gold Mine
is another gold rich site in Peru producing nearly 1.46 million ounces last
year, makes it the largest gold mine in South America. The company that
controls this mining facility is called Newmont Mining and Buenaventurda which
is also a local company in Peru. Barrick Gold Corp. holds the Goldstrike (Betze
Post) Gold Mine in another site in Nevada, USA and while it produced less than
500,000 ounces of gold compared to the Carlin-Nevada Complex; it is by no means
an area with a huge gold deposits.
Veladero
Gold Mine in Argentina is yet another gold mine owned and operated by Barrick
Gold Corp. and it produced 1.12 million ounces of gold in the previous year. Last
but not the least is the Super Pit/Kalgoorlie in Western Australia. Barrick
Gold and Newmont Mining share ownership of this gold at 50-50 and this mining
facility produces just a little over 788,000 ounces per year.
Gold Hoarding and
Geo-Political Power
The
top 6 countries that hoards tons of gold more than any other nation in the
world are the United States, Germany, Italy, France, Switzerland and China. While
the private organization known as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has
over 2,800 tonnes of gold in reserves and is the only other entity, aside from
The World Bank, that has the capability to loan billions of dollars of funds to
countries throughout the world. Five of the six countries mentioned above are
prime members of the elite G8 or “Group of Eight” and the three remaining members
of the G8 are Japan, the United Kingdom and the Russian Federation. Combined,
the G8 is practically the center of political and military power of the world
and its decision, as a body, has vast and tremendous effects on all the people
of Earth.
Two
of these six countries are considered as world superpowers (namely the United
States and China); while the third superpower nation is Russia, but Russia also
has over 900 tonnes of gold reserves and has high level financial influence on
other countries too! Perhaps the only other material that is as precious as
gold is oil and these six countries are major hoarders of it as well. It is
quite clear that political and military power follows closely behind these gold
hoarders, which also gives them vast influence over other nations and
territories around the world.
Outrageous Use of Gold
However,
in some cases gold is being used either foolishly or extravagantly. Apparently
some people have more than what they need and in order to make up for their
melancholic lifestyle they do outrageous things. Take for instance the Sultan
of Brunei Hassanal Bolkiah, although it’s more of monarchial right and not
outright extravagance, he has gold and silver kitchenware, a car inlaid with
gold and gold ornaments on his royal clothing. He has 1,788 rooms with some
furnished in gold and diamond-encrusted beds, walls, doors and other things
that you can find inside the room. According to the people who have been a
guest of the Sultan they counted approximately 257 bathrooms that are inlaid
with gold and silver in his huge palace that have most of its places been gold
gilding and leafing.
Another
strange use of gold is that it is taken as a food supplement and the Japanese,
Indians and Egyptians are known to follow this practice. However, science
hasn’t confirmed yet whether or not gold has properties that enhances human
health but it is highly unlikely that medical experts will even try. Some
beauty products are half the bluff they promised but a beauty center in China
called “Umosen” backs up their promises with genuine 24-karat gold dust! There’s
a good chance that you will look a little better with their add-ons and retouch
but while other women will brag about a $200 re-bond for their hair, you’ll
have the most expensive beauty cream of all courtesy of Umosen.
But
the most outrageous (future) use of gold was suggested by NASA and it is this: according
to one NASA official using fine gold dust mixed with other chemicals to keep it
suspended indefinitely in the upper atmosphere could solve the global warming
effects and future climate change. It will also be a significant factor in
shielding Earth’s atmosphere from harmful space radiation or cosmic rays; that
is of course assuming the Earth’s atmosphere will keep on depleting as it
currently does now. These are just a few examples of how gold can be used in
lots of unusual ways.
Gold and the Stock
Market
Gold
has remained a valuable (if not THE most valuable) trading commodity to
leverage against by investors. Even owning just a few hundred pounds of it
could become a long-term bliss for anyone who’ll want to have a business portfolio
and shares in the stock market. The over/under of the share value of gold in
financial markets are unshakable and it is more likely that you will win more
money than lose if you have shares in gold. While oil shares are the most
aggressive assets in forex gold can be depicted as a huge cruise ship that can
handle the storm’s beating in open waters. So if you want fast pace profits
then you buy Exxon Mobil, Shell or Caltex shares but for a long-term and steady
investment you purchase gold shares.
Purchasing and Selling
Gold Shares
There’s
very little difference when you talk about considering buying or selling your
gold shares depending on stock market forecasts. If you can predict the outcome
of the stock market by yourself then the better, at least you won’t have to pay
hundreds of dollars on the opinions of market analysts. Still predicting when a
certain share will go up or go down a couple of points can be a daunting task
and even at the behest of super computers, the fact that irrational decisions
that humans make can still render the cutting-edge in computer technology
ineffective in predicting accurate market forecast. Gut feeling and quick
thinking usually works best especially if you have years of experience in
making portfolio investments, but as they always say two minds are better than
one. So try to get as much tips as you can and make lots of friends and
connections so your chances in making profits with your gold shares will be
better.
Why you should Own Gold
Even
in small amounts gold can come in handy whenever you’re in need like when you
need cash badly, you can pawn your gold jewelry to a pawnshop for some cash. Or
you can buy gold in larger amounts and store it in a bank and buy bank shares
to get monthly payouts, or turn it into a long-term deposit and profit just as
much. The same principle can be applied in financial markets where you get to
play with the big boys on bigger stakes. Having a valuable commodity in your
storehouse like gold is a very smart move and a worthy investment too!
Will Gold still be a
Vital Economic Substance in the Distant Future?
This
question is vague and at times a disadvantage to answer; however, futurists
gave us a clue of what the future of nations and territories would be like. For
instance the IMF (International Monetary Fund) is now suggesting that the whole
world adapt to “electronic currency,” meaning no more mint coins, paper money,
bear bonds or credit cards. It is likely that you will be implanted with an
RFID chip which will authenticate your DNA in order to allow you to make
electronic transactions – just like the introduction of the RFID chip that came
along with the Obamacare. It’s practically a cashless society and most people
will wonder what value will gold and other precious metals have once this will
happen (and it is likely to happen probably 50 years from now).
While
gold may lose its financial value in the future it may still play a vital role
in other things (i.e. electronics, computers, aerospace etc. etc.), but it
could also be considered as relics once scientists will discover a substitute
for gold. Perhaps in that kind of future people will not have to kill each
other for gold as society will use electronic cash instead of paper money or
credit cards. One expert suggested that we will soon be creating our raw
materials because we will have mastered the reason behind the process of how
Mother Nature makes these elements.
Conclusion
Over
the millennia and across seas and continents gold will always be valuable to
everyone everywhere. People buy it for a lot of reasons from monetary needs to
fashion fetish while nations cling to it for geo-political power and maintain a
status quo. Regardless of ideals, religion, race or creed almost every person
on this planet holds certain value in his mind and heart about gold. A Buddhist
monk could see gold as something of a medium for purification while a goldsmith
sees it as a wonderful jewelry, but even with the vast difference of how people
value gold it can only be summed up in one word and that is “precious.”
