Gold: The Yellowish Metal That Prompts Human Passions
BOSTON (April 23, 2012) - The human lust for gold - it drives man and woman to devote hours and hours to sift through rolling rushes of river water, to following 'Go West' and other callings to foreign terrain, and to plot and plan devious, dishonest machinations to capture its possession.
But neither the sharpest pundits nor the most accurate forecasters know the absolute value of the most glittering, brilliant and lustrous of precious metals, argues WAM Capital director Matthew Kidman in The Sydney Morning Herald. Based in Sydney, Australia, the former fund manager draws parallels between two beliefs: endorsement of the yellowish metal as a safe investment for storage of wealth and devotion to and belief in a higher, lofty, universal power.
Both are impossible to verify.
Yet gold's prowess during its notable 11-year bullish streak is without question remarkably successful. Since the precious metal was worth $300 per troy ounce in 2001, it has skyrocketed roughly 530 percent.
Not surprisingly, it is as if the Gold Rush in California never ended. Or suddenly encountered a popularity that made it that much stronger. Or forever will be an intriguing crap shoot with metal detectors, shake pans and other sorts of location devices.
Indeed, Fox News reports prospecting on mountain trails and situating in rolling rivers for hours on end over weekends once again in the Golden State is, in fact, golden.
The top official of a California outfit that runs prospecting ventures said the hobby has unique followers who can greatly capitalize on the inexpensive adventurous good times as they take outings to the San Joaquin River of Fresno.
"People are looking for fun that doesn't cost a whole lot of money. But maybe you can make some money," president Nancy Roberts with Central Valley Prospectors told the news source, noting she has 25-plus years of experience itching the gold-hunting scratch.
Purse equipped with a 1-ounce nugget of the yellowish metal, Roberts noted gold has been good to her over the years. She has found a lot, she has sold a good amount when in need of money, and she has managed to quench her thirst for the intrigue the precious metal holds.
"I've paid bills, I've paid rent. I've bought tires for my truck, I've fixed my vehicle," she told the news source. "I didn't find gold in order to pay for stuff or to sell it. I really found gold because I really had a great interest in it and I still do."
Geographical regions issue calls and people mass-migrate to search for and, hopefully, take possession of the yellowish metal.
A region of Victoria, Australia draws large amounts of visitors chasing answers - about 150 years after the gold rush, The Times of India reports.
Located in the nation's southeast, Ballarat has 25 hectares of land where some sort of drama is virtually guaranteed. Sovereign Hill provides for the opportunity where one can prospect for gold and feed the greed.
Yet lustful greed demands police administrators work on fortifying circumstances for the holding chamber where bullion, primarily in form of ornaments, is being stored in India.
Daily News Analysis, an Indian publication, reports the largest theft of the yellowish metal in the history of the city of Pune, had police investigators activate the afterburners following a heist. They needed less than one day's time to recover a large amount of precious metal and cash that were stolen.
But no treasury or safe is available so the long arm of Indian law was forced to deploy six officers pulled to town from headquarters on top of providing its own sentries for the stash of precious metal.
