Gold Hunting in Arizona Postponed

Have you ever had a trip planned, packed for, and you were SOOOO ready to get away and go prospecting and looking forward to finding some gold, to have some emergency come up a few hours before departure that made the trip still possible, but not all you had wanted it to be?

Well, 16 hours before we were to leave to go to Arizona and the Tucson show, a family emergency came up at my brother's house that meant if we continued with our trip, it was very likely we would be unable to visit with him and his family, and we would miss a very important propsecting opportunity. We already knew that driving would be hazardous on Sunday, and the weather would not be good for prospecting until Wed, but we had still been willing to go until his called made everything seem futile.

We will not be going to Arizona until the end of March, not attending the Tucson show this year, not selling emeralds, not buying gold, not finding gold, not visiting with our many friends and aquaintances in Tucson, not leaving the snow for a few weeks. It has taken me this long to actually be able to tell you this.

However, there still is the gift show at the end of the month where I can get a new supply of mining desgn scenes, mining themed gifts, to put onsite soon, work on the new template and getting the new items on site later this month. We also can now attend a very important demo for school teachers on the 16th at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, just in time to unfold their new gold show. It also means you will get another newsletter this Friday. Lots of gold news to report on.

I don't know how the weather is where you are, but we are getting hit with snow every couple of days. Fortunately, the city is not getting more that a coupe of inches each time, but even we are above average in snow for this winter season. Some of the mountain areas are at 240% of snowpack for this year, and our biggest snows are usually in March. How's the weather where you are?

Hooked on Gold Gazette Feb. 1st

On last year's trip to Arizona, we got some nice pictures of this overly friendly Road Runner in Albuquerque. BEEP BEEP!

HOOKED ON GOLD GAZETTE

· Gold Spot Closing Price for Friday: $907.90
· Spot price Jan. 25th: $910.50
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Calendar of Events

FEBRUARY

TUCSON GEM, MINERAL, and FOSSIL SHOW – Tucson, Az.
13th GPOC Meeting 7:00 p.m. Colo. Springs
22nd – 24th Gem and Mineral Show Jefferson County Fairgrounds, Colo.
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NEWS

The roller coaster ride of gold has been interesting this week with it touching $937.60 this morning before tumbling back under $30.00 a Gram. The uncertainty concerning South African gold mining along with economic woes pushed it up before the Fed interest rate cut pushed it back. Consumers and investors have been pulling back from the metal as it sharply rose in January. Scrap gold is being sold around the world in large quantities, jewelry demands in India and the U.S. have fallen off, and futures have fallen due to fears that the metal has advanced to quickly as of late. However, the wedding season is approaching in India and they can hold off purchasing the metal only so long, as wedding gifts of gold jewelry for the bride are traditional. Pressures on gold to rise in price are all around, and it cannot stay at current levels all year.

We will be on our way to Arizona tomorrow, and while we are away, I will blog a bit about what we are doing and sharing some pictures. There will be no regular newsletter next Friday as I will have intermittent internet access for the next week. Check back for updates throughout the week.

Snow continues to hammer the mountains here in Colorado, with each river drainage at 150% of snowpack for the year or above; March and April are still coming. That’s going to mean a heavy run off season this late spring and early summer which will be moving gold around in the rivers this year. It also means high water for most of the summer. Have you been able to get out with your metal detector? With storms coming every other day since Christmas, ours has been in it’s case, but should get to see the light of day in the next couple of weeks. Have a great weekend! Off to pack.
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If you find a broken link, please let us know
THE ARKANSAS RIVER is now closed TO MOTORIZED EQUIPMENT FOR THE WINTER UNTIL APRIL 1, 2008.
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Good Prospecting to You,
Larry and Shirley Weilnau
http://www.hookedongold.com/
http://www.thevideosense.com/user/MQS/ Prospecting Videos
http://www.hookedongold2.com/ Looking for metal detectors on e-Bay? Click here
info@hookedongold.com contact us

Hooked on Gold Gazette Jan 25th

Summer time fun. Don't know about you, but I'm tired of being COLD!!!

HOOKED ON GOLD GAZETTE

· Gold Spot Closing Price for Friday: $910.50
· Spot price Jan. 18th: $880.50
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Calendar of Events

JANUARY 2008
1st New Years Day
9th GPOC Meeting 7:00 p.m. Colo. Springs

FEBRUARY
TUCSON GEM, MINERAL, and FOSSIL SHOW – Tucson, Az.
13th GPOC Meeting 7:00 p.m. Colo. Springs
22nd – 24th Gem and Mineral Show Jefferson County Fairgrounds, Colo.
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NEWS

BREAKING NEWS! Closure of three large mines today in South Africa have placed the supply of platinum and gold in jeopardy. The local utility/power supplier informed Anglo Platinum, Anglogold Ashanti, and Harmony gold mines that they would be unable to guarantee continued power supplies to them due to power shortages and worker strikes. Gold reached a high in overnight markets of $924.70 on the news.

The cost of making a penney has neared it not surpassed 2 cents. How much longer do ou think we will be carrying the coin in their present state? Aren’t we ALL picking up penney’s we find on the ground?

Ever wonder what the gold market has been doing by percentage gain each year since 2000? Well I found a chart that tells you just that. Don’t know for sure what gold will do in the future, but the past has been remarkable.

2001 33.10%
2002 20.10%
2003 54.40%
2004 8.36%
2005 40.00%
2006 20.60%
2007 31.10%

This shows an average gain of 27.27%, and will boost gold to $1061.00 per ounce by years end, if it only reaches the AVERAGE, and there are many factors working now to push it past the average.

This year, China began trading in gold futures contracts for the first time ever. The Chinese have an opportunity to buy futures contracts on gold at just 7% of the contract, making it very easy for the average person to purchase the smaller 1,000 gram contracts. The impact of these traders along with world wide traders, could have a substantial impact. As China becomes the world’s largest producer of gold, soon, according to a prediction by the China Gold Association, it could also become the worlds second heaviest buying country as well.

COLORADO is experiencing a surge in mining claim applications. “GOLD?” you ask? NOPE. Oil and uranium. The state has some of the lowest fees in the Rocky Mountain area, and the State is contemplating how much to raise them. Mining companies are complaining, but if you look at Wyoming and Utah, we are charging almost half what other states are getting. I guess you could say, I’m more in favor of the State getting more in fees than to have my income or property taxes raised. Then there is that proposed gasoline tax of 13 cents. I can’t say that the fee hike is necessarily bad for mining as they are already paying higher fees in neighboring states. Heck, if they’re lucky they can spend the fee money in court paying lawyers to fight the environmentalists and locals who don’t want mining and then take their high paying mining jobs and mine somewhere else. THAT would be great for the environment, AND the economy.

The Tucson show is coming up in February. You could be there anywhere from the first of February til around the 17th and see a lot. While much of the show is for wholesale, there is much to see for the average guy. The downtown convention center has something going on each long weekend, and there are other things al over town at many motels, and can be accessed by and “prospector”. I can promise you that if you have never been, you will be on overload by the time you leave. Plan to park your car and use the shuttles.

So, how are you planning on spending your Federal “rebate” check? That is, assuming it can pass both the houses without too many changes, (HA! Can you spell P*O*R*K?) AND you get it before the elections.

Oh! Oh! In the proposed changes to the mining laws that were talked about last summer, how did you like the one about how the water quality coming out of a mine 10 years after it was shut had to be guaranteed to be “clean”? I didn’t see any mention of any consideration of the water quality BEFORE the mine was opened.

The new template is almost finished and it should be in place in March. What with the Tucson Show coming up, there won’t be much time to switch it before we leave, so it will have to wait until we get back. It will take some time to get everything as it should be before it goes “public”. It looks great and just needs a few more tweeks to be ready to start using. Did you find gold this week?
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If you find a broken link, please let us know
THE ARKANSAS RIVER is now closed TO MOTORIZED EQUIPMENT FOR THE WINTER UNTIL APRIL 1, 2008.
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Until Next week.
Good Prospecting to You,
Larry and Shirley Weilnau
http://www.hookedongold.com/
http://www.thevideosense.com/user/MQS/ Prospecting Videos
http://www.hookedongold2.com/ Looking for metal detectors on e-Bay? Click here
info@hookedongold.com contact us

Gold Spot Price on the Rise

Outstanding Case of Gold at the 2007 Tucson Show at the Convention Center

GOLD! Whoa Boy, have you been watching it this morning? If not, take a look at the charts page! While I have been catching up on e-mail, planning tomorrow's newsletter, and making other changes, it has gone from around $856 to over $867 right now at 9:42 a.m.

I have been reading and watching stuff about other mining and rock hounding opportunities around the country, and I gotta tell ya, you should be checking these places out for some fun. Every state has a free or pay for use place where you can find all sorts of metals, gemstones, agates, petrified wood, and fossils. Geology is great fun for everyone, and kids always like diggin' in the dirt. Visit your state's digging areas this weekend if the weather permits, and if not, plan outings for this spring and summer.

The gem and mineral societies around the country are also in full swing planning and putting on gem, mineral, and fossil shows. Attend one for some amazing earth science experiences. The annual monster show in Tucson will be underway in about 3 weeks, too, and will run several shows across the city for about 3 weeks. Hooked on Gold will be there around the 9th through the 15th or so, of Feb. Just in time to see the gold displays in the Convention Center 14th through the 17th. We photographed some amazing pieces of gold last year, and plan to do the same this year. Watch for new pictures in March.

Gold at the Tucson Show

From top, Nevada gold specimen,California gold specimen, Tiger Eye from Australia.

For those of you who don't know about the Tucson Gem, Mineral and Fossil show held each February in Tucson, Arizona, you are missing one of the real treats of the winter. The shows span about 4 weeks, with many overlapping each other. We had heard about this show for many years, but were unable to attend due to work conflicts. This was the first year we were able to go, and it was all we had heard and 10 times more.

Both wholesale and retail venues abound, and it was hard to find what we wanted to see in the 4 days we were there. We settled on making sure we saw the vendors we know personally, buying gold, and catching a small part of a couple of the wholesale gem shows. We saw a lot and missed a lot more. The shows are so big you could pick one to attend and not see all of IT in 4 days.

The gold we saw and bought was abundant, but not as much as there had been a few years ago when gold was the show theme. However, we did see and photograph fabulous gold specimens from the U.S. and around the world, and bought gold nuggets at reasonable prices. Remember, I didn't say "sand" prices, but reasonable "gold" prices. Special specimens were shown from California (with a couple of large specimens being bought by collectors before they were even seen), Nevada, Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Australia, and Arizona. Do you notice a pattern with gold places beginning with the letter A? LOL!

Shuttling from place to place is recommended, as the shows blanket the city. Parking, trying to drive everywhere, and finding your venue is a dunting task that the shuttle drivers can relieve you of. Traffic can be a problem and will be worse next year as Tucson plans to be working of the downtown bidges and freeway interchanges. We had no problem finding restaurants with little waiting for seating. We had anticipated a problem with this due to the number of people in town for the events, but this proved not to be the case.

If you have a passion for gold, gems, minerals and fossils this show is a must at sometime in your future. If you have been there, you know it is a treat to be there. The weather in the middle of winter is an added plus as it was 83 degrees while we were there. A great trip, and a great time.