We need to understand the difference between money and currency as one is real and the other a promise.  Money can be defined as a medium of exchange and a store of value and until fairly recent times was in fact coins made out of precious metal with an intrinsic value or for ease of use, notes backed by precious metal.

Money, when considered as the fruit of many years’ industry, as the reward of labor, sweat and toil, as the widow’s dowry and children’s portion, and as the means of procuring the necessaries and alleviating the afflictions of life, and making old age a scene of rest, has something in it sacred that is not to be sported with, or trusted to the airy bubble of paper currency. Thomas Paine (1737 – 1809)

Currency is still a medium of exchange but is not a store of value as it only derives its value by government degree or “fiat”. It’s value is based on the issuing the authority’s guarantee to pay……LIRE LA SUITE SUR NOTRE BLOG ANGLAIS, GOLDCOIN.ORG

Behind the changes that led to the Jamaica agreement can be found the decision taken by President Nixon on the 15th August 1971 to suspend the direct convertibility of dollars into gold, the keystone of the financial system created in July 1944 (the Bretton Woods Agreement).  On the 1st October 1971 the general assembly of the IMF asked the board of trustees to study and propose a comprehensive reform…….French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown were recalling the previous success and called for a “new Bretton Woods”….. LIRE LA SUITE SUR NOTRE BLOG ANGLAIS, GOLDCOIN.ORG

The economic crisis that came to the surface in 2008, whilst not being comfortable, had at least brought to our attention many shortcomings, whilst today there is not the panic, the underlying causes still have not gone away and the risk of systemic failure is still real. States and governments for decades had great faith in the financial establishments, banks, credit agencies, specialised savings companies (some even public); but short comings and failure occurred again and again….. LIRE LA SUITE SUR NOTRE BLOG ANGLAIS, GOLDCOIN.ORG

This chart illustrates the general steps in open-pit gold mining. The specifics of the process vary from mine to mine and the process changes from low grade to high grade ore…..LIRE LA SUITE SUR NOTRE BLOG ANGLAIS, GOLDCOIN.ORG

Every winter, an ice road is laid across 400 km (250 miles) of tundra to carry supplies to one of the world’s most isolated gold mines. There is no other way for heavy machinery to reach Kupol, the $700 million Arctic mine behind a resurgence in Russian gold production after five straight years of decline. « It’s one of the harshest climates I’ve worked in, and I’ve worked in the Atacama desert in Chile and at 15,000 feet in Indonesia,” said Patrick Dougherty, general manager at Kupol. “But I don’t get to pick where the gold is.”….. LIRE LA SUITE SUR NOTRE BLOG ANGLAIS, GOLDCOIN.ORG

A Gold Rush is set to hit Russia after claims that a huge treasure trove dating form the time of the last Tsar Nicholas II, with possible British claimants, remains buried in remote woodland near the City of KAZAN. Historian Valery Kurnosov says evidence of the hoard, estimated to be worth about half a billion pounds at today’s prices, lies in the files of both the KGB and MI6….. LIRE LA SUITE SUR NOTRE BLOG ANGLAIS, GOLDCOIN.ORG

There are a vast variety of gold coins available  from many countries in Europe.Many of these coins are beautiful and historic like the British sovereign, French Napoleon or Russian Rouble yet they do not find attraction in Bulgaria, where they have gone to the other side of the world to meet their demand.  Bulgaria’s First Investment Bank has commissioned a new collection of gold coins from the New Zealand Mint….. LIRE LA SUITE SUR NOTRE BLOG ANGLAIS, GOLDCOIN.ORG

The discovery of gold in Australia in the mid 19^th Century had more of an affect on the nation than its discovery in any other country, transforming Australia from a British penal colony to a nation that integrated many nationalities. To this day a term of endearment for Australians is “Digger”.   It was not an easy passage and on the way there was greed, dispute, revolution, racism and a new type of outlaw “the bushranger; but gold was responsible for the building of infrastructure, the end of transportation and financial viability. Britain no longer had any excuse for withholding self-government from its Australian colonies eventually leading to the formation of the Federation of the Commonwealth of Australia after the referendum of 1900…..LIRE LA SUITE SUR NOTRE BLOG ANGLAISH, GLDCOIN.ORG

In March 1999, gold is almost as low as $250 an ounce.  In December 2009 it cost more than $1200 an ounce.  In ten years, the price of gold has exploded and despite the recovery of the financial markets you will have seen that the price of gold has not dropped.  Why?  Because one central bank has announced that it secretly accumulated gold reserves, multiplying its gold reserves by three – that Bank is the Chinese Central Bank….. LIRE LA SUITE SUR NOTRE BLOG ANGLAIS, GOLDCOIN.ORG

The USA was the fourth  largest world producer of gold  in 2009 with the most prosperous mining region located in the state of Nevada. Millions of years ago, hot springs laden with flecks of gold boiled up through deep fractures in the earth’s crust. But the golden residue did not accumulate in rich veins, instead, it disseminated throughout the sedimentary rock laid down by an ancient ocean

The vast bulk of this production is from large mines where the deposits consist of microscopic particles principally hosted in this sedimentary (or sometimes volcanic) rock. Many of these deposits lie along a few well known geologic trends, and the two best known are the Carlin Trend…..LIRE LA SUITE SUR NOTRE BLOG ANGLAIS,GOLDCOIN.ORG

The Latin Monetary Union was the first attempt to unify European currencies.

« Before long, all Europe, save England, will have one  money ». This was written by William Bagehot, the Editor of « The Economist », the renowned British magazine, 120 years ago when Britain, even then, was heatedly debating whether to adopt a single European Currency or not.

The story began when Belgium adopted the French franc in 1830. Switzerland harmonized its currency to the franc in 1848 and Italy joined in 1861, both retaining the names of their national currencies but adjusting their values to match the franc. In 1865, this arrangement was formalised as the Latin Monetary Union……. LIRE LA SUITE SUR BLOG ANGLAIS, GOLDCOIN.ORG

Adolf Hitler came into power in a Germany that was still reeling from defeat in the First World War with its gold reserves empty and its currency valueless.  Having promised to return his country to glory, Hitler began to rebuild the Germanic Empire and for this he needed gold.  It is important to understand that in 1939 Germany’s gold reserves were not very large, worth around 200 million dollars and already allocated, mainly for constructing German war machines.  Furthermore, the country could no longer buy products manufactured abroad nor basic raw materials because of the low value of the Reichsmark.  The only remaining alternative was gold.

And so, little by little whilst moving through Europe, the German Army plundered the gold reserves of the nations they invaded…….LIRE LA SUITE SUR NOTRE BLOG ANGLAIS, GOLDCOIN.ORG

China has the  largest foreign reserves in the world and much of this is in dollar assets and continues to substantially increase its gold reserves. In the long term China craves economic and financial power and would take the place of America if it could but it needs to free itself from the vast amount dollar asset it holds and arguably convert a substantial amount of these to gold. It wants to exchange those dollars for gold at the most favorable prices, so in the short term it does not want a high gold price nor does it want a weakened dollar as it needs to get best exchange rate for the dollars it holds. Most of the world’s gold is in private hands and not easily accessible so China’s option in the short term is to chip away quietly like an investor buying up small numbers of shares in a company before a takeover……. LIRE LA SUITE SUR NOTRE BLOG ANGLAIS, GOLDCOIN.ORG

Gold’s lustre has bewitched man since it was first extracted over 6000 years ago.  What’s more, it doesn’t rust, oxidize or tarnish.  It is estimated that all the gold ever extracted would only form a cube of around 20 metres on each side, an eighth of this football pitch…….LIRE LA SUITE SUR NOTRE BLOG ANGLAIS, GOLDCOIN.ORG

In the mountains of the Dominican Republic, Maria-Previda and her family excavate the gravel from a gold deposit, it is the most simple and traditional way of gold prospecting.  We wash the gravel and earth in a pan using a circular motion to remove fine sand and earth.  Gold deposits are heavier and therefore sink to the bottom….. LIRE LA SUITE SUR NOTRE BLOG ANGLAIS, GOLDCOIN.ORG