Errol

Excellent.

Physical is the only way to hold gold. Do not trust anything electronic in this day and age. Those digits can be taken from you in a flash.

Get out where? Keep fingers crossed for $500 or lower.

I look forward to buying gold at $200 an ounce then! Yes please, let me exchange this worthless fiat for cheap gold.

This position probably applies to me as well. Though I would describe myself as a long term gold holder. This could mean anything from 15 years (I started buying in 2000) to the whole of my life. Gold is not an investment but a store of value. It represents a way of protecting wealth from the existing, dishonest, financial system.

LOL? Bit of a privacy breach, surely?

How would one go about buying shares in this?

I would agree that gold trading is highly dangerous. Don't do it unless you have lots of money to lose. You're better off buying physical. Hold it in your own hands.

Worthwhile reading this article about gold, written by Alan Greenspan in 1966: http://www.financialsense.com/metals/greenspan1966.html

Trading on margin in this market is suicidal. Only do it if you are amazingly wealthly or a highly skilled and experienced trader.

Perhaps the IMF is selling some?

You have to expect these drops. This is their tactic. They wait 'till everyone is in then pull the rug. This shakes out the weak holders.

In relation to what?

Bush to announce that gold sales/ownership is illegal?

South African Aug. Gold Output Falls 23% on Strike Oct. 9 (Bloomberg) -- South Africa, the world's biggest producer of precious metals, said gold production fell 23 percent in August from a year earlier because of an electricity shortage and a protest against power price increases. ``There was the Aug. 6 strike by Cosatu that affected mines quite heavily,'' Alex Conradie, an economist at the Department of Minerals and Energy, said by telephone from Pretoria today. ``The power issues also weren't there a year ago.'' The Congress of South African Trade Unions, known as Cosatu, protested against a 27.5 percent tariff increase by state-owned Eskom Holdings Ltd. to help fund a $44 billion expansion. The utility, which supplies 95 percent of South Africa's power, started rationing supplies to mines this year because of a shortage of capacity. South Africa's total mining output declined 6.2 percent and non-gold production fell 3.5 percent, Pretoria-based Statistics South Africa said today on its Web site. Mineral sales jumped 58 percent to 27.52 billion rand ($3.04 billion) in July from a year earlier, it said. Mineral sales data lag production data by a month. South Africa produces more than three-quarters of the world's platinum and also turns out diamonds, coal, chrome and iron ore. South Africa was the world's biggest gold producer for more than a century until last year when it was overtaken by China. Ageing ore bodies and safety-related mine stoppages cut 2007 output by 7.4 percent from 2006.

Thanks a lot for this. Very useful!

Rang ATS Bullion today about some 1oz coins. They are out of pretty much everything. They didn't even have any 1/2 ounce eagles. It's getting silly.

This is hardly scientific. Gold coins, when knocked together, always produce wonderful high-pitched rings. Quite unique once you've heard it.

Nothing goes up in a straight line. Between now and 2011 (target price in excess of $1650 an ounce) we will have swings of $100 or more in a day. This is going to be one hell of a wild ride. This is why you shouldn't play the gold market on margin. It will kill you.

You hold gold in your hands, not in in any currency. It's shiny and very dense.

Gold posts its biggest one day rise for 9 years. It's heading for $1650++ by 2011.

You're missing the point of gold. We don't necessarily need to see gains. Gold holds its value.

Fed rates kept on hold.

You should always want to hold gold.

Govts' moves can't halt commodity rally: Rogers Newswire18 / Mumbai September 13, 2008 Trying to cut out speculators from the commodity futures trade will only decrease liquidity and will not halt a price rise as supply problems persist, investor James B Rogers, popularly known as Jim Rogers, said on Friday. He was speaking on the sidelines of the launch of a commodity-equity fund by Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund. Commenting on the ban on eight commodity futures in India and rising scrutiny of speculators in the US commodity markets, Rogers said, “Governments and politicians do not understand markets and they are making the situation worse by trying to impose controls on the markets.” “Commodity prices will go up whether governments impose controls or not as there is a serious supply-side problem.” He said the bull run in crude oil prices is not over yet and expects prices of sugar, cotton and coffee to rise sharply. “Zinc and silver prices may also witness some upside,” Rogers said. He said despite the fall in gold, he is not selling the yellow metal and will buy more if it falls further. “If you have gold, I will buy it from you. Gold is not something I plan to sell. Ever,” he added. Rogers remained extremely pessimistic on the dollar and said it is a “terribly flawed currency”. It is because of the pessimism of many investors like me that the dollar has suddenly appreciated, he said. “However, it is likely to weaken again and I intend to sell all my holdings in the dollar in the current rally,” he added. Rogers said as the dollar situation is likely to get worse, it will also have a positive effect on commodity prices, which are mostly dollar-denominated. “The commodity’s price will go up no matter where the dollar is. A weak dollar only adds to the rise in prices and is not the major factor,” he added. He expects the dollar to lose its position as the reserve currency of the world soon. “Iran and Venezuela are already not accepting the dollar when they sell oil and even Opec (the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) is trying to figure out how to deal with a weak dollar,” he said. He said the dollar’s weakness was because of the weak move made by the Federal Reserve and the US government. “It was a horrendous mistake to bail out Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae banks,” Rogers said. “The next thing we know they will be bailing out Lehman Brothers.” According to him, what the government should do is let two-three people collapse, which will help clear out excesses in the system. He said the current recession will help clean up the global economy and then the economies can start growing again. http://www.business-standard.com/ind...?autono=334277