Here's another gorgeous piece of gold from the Denver Gem and Mineral Show this past September
· Gold Spot Closing Price for Friday: $941.60
· Spot price last Gazette: $911.40
________________
Calendar of Events
FEBRUARY
· 2nd Groundhog Day
· 5th – 13th TUCSON Show (boy do we wish we could be there!)
· 11th GPOC Regular Meeting 7:00 p.m.
· 12th Lincoln’s B.D.
· 14th VALENTINES DAY Remember your honey today!
· 16th PRESIDENTS Day
· 22nd Washington’s B.D.
· 25th Ash Wednesday
MARCH
8th Daylight Savings Time begins
11th GPOC Regular Meeting 7:00p.m.
17th St. Patrick’s Day
20th Spring Equinox
_______________________________________
NEWS
HAPPY VALENTINES DAY to all of you. Make it a golden one.
The spot price of gold sure has had its’ ups and downs this week, but it is steadily trending up each week, and looks like it will continue to do so for the near future. A pull back would be expected as the stimulus package gets approval next week, but all the charts are looking up for at least a quarter. If the markets like what they see next week, I would expect gold to pull back, but if they don’t like what Congress does, I look for gold to continue its’ upward march for a while. This summer could be interesting all the way around.
For those of you who are coin collectors, the new Lincoln Silver Dollar is for sale on the US Mint site now. They have also begun to release this year’s special penny’s, too. You can find more info on the coins at U.S. Mint.gov. (Boy, I hope I got that embedded link right!) If that link doesn’t work just try www.usmint.gov and find the page. The silver dollars are priced at $37.95 each.
Ok, I told you I had a thought or two on mining and green energy, so you have fair warning about what I’m about to write. I was reading about the wind turbine plants that are being built here in Colorado, and though I am pro business and love to see high paying jobs come to my state, it made me think about the process of green energy.
The end result of the turbines is supposedly green, but what about the process of building them? They are not made out of plastic, and if they were that would be a whole ‘nother question, but base metals, and that means those metals have to be mined somewhere. Many times, gold mining includes the mining of base metals, and often it is what sustains a mine if a vein pinches out.
Now, if we close all those gold mines because some think gold is not essential, where do we go for the base metals to build the wind turbines and solar panels that take up so much land surface, and need batteries to store up their energy? If we need so many of these turbines and solar panels in this country, why are we making other countries mine what we need in more toxic conditions? (Of course, if we didn’t, those countries populations would not have as many jobs, either) If we “need” so much here, how green is it to mine our metals somewhere else and import them? I’ve said it before, and I will say it again; if you use metals that are not mined in this country where you can control the environmental conditions within reason, you have no right to go around saying that mining in other countries should be stopped because it is toxic to the environment.
Walk, don’t ride a bike, drive a car, or take a plane anywhere you are going. Petroleum based products are mined just as are metals. It takes some type of energy to “make” those turbines before they can produce energy themselves, and the return is not as great as what it took to produce the product. It is the law of diminishing returns. The same law says that you cannot make enough energy from the sun as what it takes to produce the item that is collecting it. The same is true with ethanol. You cannot get the same amount of fuel out of corn that must be grown and converted.
This is why fossil fuels are so efficient for us right now. Even though we cannot get the same amount of energy out of it that was put into it, it was created billions of years ago from energy spent even more billions of years ago. With green energy, we are trying to use what we have available right now to meet the needs we have RIGHT NOW. The law of diminishing returns says that isn’t possible under the current circumstances. There is no known perpetual motion machine. The answer? I have no idea, but I am certain we are throwing an awful lot of money at a solution that cannot work in the long run. My hope is that through this trial and error, we actually find a solution that can work.
Right now, I do not see us getting away from fossil fuels for quite some time, and green efforts will be expensive and not be able to return what anyone expects. The numbers simply do not add up. My basis for this opinion? My husband has worked in the energy industry for over 30 years. While I am not in that capacity, we do discuss the topic with many people in the field, and so I have a vested interest in finding another solution that is viable and cost effective to the customer.
Remember, YOU are the one who will pay for all of this. Should your government ever decide to nationalize the energy section, you will pay for it, too, and at a MUCH higher price. Fossil fuels and global warming has been pretty much debunked in scientific circles so the new catch phrase has been changed to “Climate Change”. If a singe volcanic eruption can put out more Co2 than all the industrial pollutants put out in every country in the world for one year, how can we blame fossil fuel consumption for climate change or global warming. Climate change has been plotted for centuries. Droughts come and droughts go. But, then I hear they blame colder winters on it, too.
So, now you’re asking what this has to do with prospecting for gold? All of these attitudes keep others who think their “green” concerns are more important than yours, and they have been and are right now effecting how, where and when you can look for gold. Some of these things are just silly and are made to keep you from pursuing prospecting gold or gemstones or anything else, for that matter, but road closures and “studies” keep you out of areas that have been historically open to the public. Public land isn’t so public any more, and more and more special interest groups are gaining “private” access to public lands. When the government closes a public lands area, they aren’t preserving it for you. They are keeping you out. Now, everyone knows I’m blonde, so I’m probably wrong about all of this. However…….
I read an interesting item today about the amount of gold that has been produced, but rarely do I see anything about the current annual production of gold. I saw it today and thought I’d pass it along to you FYI.
Total produced to date approximately 140,000 tons
Worth 4.5 trillion dollars at $1,000 per ounce
75% is in gold coins or jewelry
2,600 new tons produced every year, or we are adding about 2% per year
Worth 83 billion dollars
Doesn’t look like much gold is out there, to me. Our own spending in this country way outstrips how much we find. Now you know why we use paper. LOL!
I suppose that’s enough for today. I’ll have to blog later about the other news, as I’ve probably taken up more of your time than you wanted me to, now. LOL! I twitter daily, so follow me there. It also posts here in the left hand column and on facebook. Prospecting equipment links below and some DIY sites, too.
Panning Kits Here
Monthly Specials HERE
Basic Prospecting Equipment
Here are a few links to DIY projects:
Ratled's Highbanker
http://49ermike.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=181&topic_id=58181&mesg_id=58181&page=
Highbanker
http://www.49ermike.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=181&topic_id=65680&mesg_id=65680&page=
Slick Sluice Info.
http://golddredger.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=read_count&om=106&forum=DCForumID9&viewmode=threaded
DIY Bucket Classifier
http://www.hookedongold.com/gold_panning_tips.html
Until next week…….
Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley (MQS)
Google has begun running third party ads and is requiring adsense sites to include information about this change on their websites. You can read about this on our Privacy Policy page.
World Open Panning website has this year’s world wide panning competitions listed and they add more all the time. A great site to visit: www.worldopenpanning.homestead.com . If the links do not work, copy and paste them into your browser.
If you find a broken link, please let us know
THE ARKANSAS RIVER is now closed TO MOTORIZED EQUIPMENT until April 1st.
_______________________________________
www.hookedongold.com
www.hookedongold2.com Metal Detectors at Auction
info@hookedongold.com contact us
PLEASE BE ADVISED: Ads that you might find on this blog or on a website using ads, may use cookies or other tracking means to track your movements on the web. Please read our Privacy Policy to see how this affects you and what you might want to do to prevent cookies being used to track you.
· Spot price last Gazette: $911.40
________________
Calendar of Events
FEBRUARY
· 2nd Groundhog Day
· 5th – 13th TUCSON Show (boy do we wish we could be there!)
· 11th GPOC Regular Meeting 7:00 p.m.
· 12th Lincoln’s B.D.
· 14th VALENTINES DAY Remember your honey today!
· 16th PRESIDENTS Day
· 22nd Washington’s B.D.
· 25th Ash Wednesday
MARCH
8th Daylight Savings Time begins
11th GPOC Regular Meeting 7:00p.m.
17th St. Patrick’s Day
20th Spring Equinox
_______________________________________
NEWS
HAPPY VALENTINES DAY to all of you. Make it a golden one.
The spot price of gold sure has had its’ ups and downs this week, but it is steadily trending up each week, and looks like it will continue to do so for the near future. A pull back would be expected as the stimulus package gets approval next week, but all the charts are looking up for at least a quarter. If the markets like what they see next week, I would expect gold to pull back, but if they don’t like what Congress does, I look for gold to continue its’ upward march for a while. This summer could be interesting all the way around.
For those of you who are coin collectors, the new Lincoln Silver Dollar is for sale on the US Mint site now. They have also begun to release this year’s special penny’s, too. You can find more info on the coins at U.S. Mint.gov. (Boy, I hope I got that embedded link right!) If that link doesn’t work just try www.usmint.gov and find the page. The silver dollars are priced at $37.95 each.
Ok, I told you I had a thought or two on mining and green energy, so you have fair warning about what I’m about to write. I was reading about the wind turbine plants that are being built here in Colorado, and though I am pro business and love to see high paying jobs come to my state, it made me think about the process of green energy.
The end result of the turbines is supposedly green, but what about the process of building them? They are not made out of plastic, and if they were that would be a whole ‘nother question, but base metals, and that means those metals have to be mined somewhere. Many times, gold mining includes the mining of base metals, and often it is what sustains a mine if a vein pinches out.
Now, if we close all those gold mines because some think gold is not essential, where do we go for the base metals to build the wind turbines and solar panels that take up so much land surface, and need batteries to store up their energy? If we need so many of these turbines and solar panels in this country, why are we making other countries mine what we need in more toxic conditions? (Of course, if we didn’t, those countries populations would not have as many jobs, either) If we “need” so much here, how green is it to mine our metals somewhere else and import them? I’ve said it before, and I will say it again; if you use metals that are not mined in this country where you can control the environmental conditions within reason, you have no right to go around saying that mining in other countries should be stopped because it is toxic to the environment.
Walk, don’t ride a bike, drive a car, or take a plane anywhere you are going. Petroleum based products are mined just as are metals. It takes some type of energy to “make” those turbines before they can produce energy themselves, and the return is not as great as what it took to produce the product. It is the law of diminishing returns. The same law says that you cannot make enough energy from the sun as what it takes to produce the item that is collecting it. The same is true with ethanol. You cannot get the same amount of fuel out of corn that must be grown and converted.
This is why fossil fuels are so efficient for us right now. Even though we cannot get the same amount of energy out of it that was put into it, it was created billions of years ago from energy spent even more billions of years ago. With green energy, we are trying to use what we have available right now to meet the needs we have RIGHT NOW. The law of diminishing returns says that isn’t possible under the current circumstances. There is no known perpetual motion machine. The answer? I have no idea, but I am certain we are throwing an awful lot of money at a solution that cannot work in the long run. My hope is that through this trial and error, we actually find a solution that can work.
Right now, I do not see us getting away from fossil fuels for quite some time, and green efforts will be expensive and not be able to return what anyone expects. The numbers simply do not add up. My basis for this opinion? My husband has worked in the energy industry for over 30 years. While I am not in that capacity, we do discuss the topic with many people in the field, and so I have a vested interest in finding another solution that is viable and cost effective to the customer.
Remember, YOU are the one who will pay for all of this. Should your government ever decide to nationalize the energy section, you will pay for it, too, and at a MUCH higher price. Fossil fuels and global warming has been pretty much debunked in scientific circles so the new catch phrase has been changed to “Climate Change”. If a singe volcanic eruption can put out more Co2 than all the industrial pollutants put out in every country in the world for one year, how can we blame fossil fuel consumption for climate change or global warming. Climate change has been plotted for centuries. Droughts come and droughts go. But, then I hear they blame colder winters on it, too.
So, now you’re asking what this has to do with prospecting for gold? All of these attitudes keep others who think their “green” concerns are more important than yours, and they have been and are right now effecting how, where and when you can look for gold. Some of these things are just silly and are made to keep you from pursuing prospecting gold or gemstones or anything else, for that matter, but road closures and “studies” keep you out of areas that have been historically open to the public. Public land isn’t so public any more, and more and more special interest groups are gaining “private” access to public lands. When the government closes a public lands area, they aren’t preserving it for you. They are keeping you out. Now, everyone knows I’m blonde, so I’m probably wrong about all of this. However…….
I read an interesting item today about the amount of gold that has been produced, but rarely do I see anything about the current annual production of gold. I saw it today and thought I’d pass it along to you FYI.
Total produced to date approximately 140,000 tons
Worth 4.5 trillion dollars at $1,000 per ounce
75% is in gold coins or jewelry
2,600 new tons produced every year, or we are adding about 2% per year
Worth 83 billion dollars
Doesn’t look like much gold is out there, to me. Our own spending in this country way outstrips how much we find. Now you know why we use paper. LOL!
I suppose that’s enough for today. I’ll have to blog later about the other news, as I’ve probably taken up more of your time than you wanted me to, now. LOL! I twitter daily, so follow me there. It also posts here in the left hand column and on facebook. Prospecting equipment links below and some DIY sites, too.
Panning Kits Here
Monthly Specials HERE
Basic Prospecting Equipment
Here are a few links to DIY projects:
Ratled's Highbanker
http://49ermike.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=181&topic_id=58181&mesg_id=58181&page=
Highbanker
http://www.49ermike.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=181&topic_id=65680&mesg_id=65680&page=
Slick Sluice Info.
http://golddredger.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=read_count&om=106&forum=DCForumID9&viewmode=threaded
DIY Bucket Classifier
http://www.hookedongold.com/gold_panning_tips.html
Until next week…….
Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley (MQS)
Google has begun running third party ads and is requiring adsense sites to include information about this change on their websites. You can read about this on our Privacy Policy page.
World Open Panning website has this year’s world wide panning competitions listed and they add more all the time. A great site to visit: www.worldopenpanning.homestead.com . If the links do not work, copy and paste them into your browser.
If you find a broken link, please let us know
THE ARKANSAS RIVER is now closed TO MOTORIZED EQUIPMENT until April 1st.
_______________________________________
www.hookedongold.com
www.hookedongold2.com Metal Detectors at Auction
info@hookedongold.com contact us
PLEASE BE ADVISED: Ads that you might find on this blog or on a website using ads, may use cookies or other tracking means to track your movements on the web. Please read our Privacy Policy to see how this affects you and what you might want to do to prevent cookies being used to track you.
