Gold? Worth it?

sabretoothtigger

if the price of gold goes up?

This is confusing but in which country is the price going up. If Indian currency goes up in value faster then gold, their price will drop. This is the idea behind believing they will experience great growth in demand quite possibly. Nobody knows, but if dollars do go down (and gold up, its still a 0% growth asset) it doesnt mean everyone else has to be poorer.

USA is just 300m people, I know thats alot really but India China is +6x as much so why dont they matter

It'll be like walking on a ship in stormy seas, easy to go overboard and quite sickening to many


The main growth in demand is as a form of money. Jewellery demand could be flat still as less USA buy and more ASIA able to

the_ghost_2

DiggerUK wrote: »

Yes.... If you alter the ratio it won't matter a great deal for now. I would suggest you put more in to NSI, until you are a bit more clued up on the benefits of gold. No problem from me if you put the whole lot in gold, but you seem to need to research gold a bit more so that you at least know what you are putting your savings in to.
NSI will cover you against inflation loss, and in my opinion gold will do the same.

Would suggest you buy UK legal tender, VAT free going in, CGT free when you sell. Sovereigns are ideal for what you are considering.

I have yet to hear an argument that convinces me of any long term risk in holding gold, in fact I have yet to find any risk at all with gold. It does not default, go bankrupt or become worthless.
Best of fortune.

I have 10k i'm looking to invest into British Soverigns for the same reasons you quoted above. Could you please tell me of a website you recommend to buy them from? I don't want to handle the gold. Could you also advise on whether to go for allocated or unallocated.

Many thanks.

DiggerUK

the_ghost wrote: »

....I'm looking to invest into British Sovereigns......Many thanks.

Wrong thread, i.e., it's not mine or yours to talk about this.
There is a recent thread that covers your question a few pages further down the forum.

atypical

sabretoothtigger wrote: »

Gold is impossible to make, it can be mined but only at great cost usually.

It is possible to 'make' gold, but the cost of doing so is greater than the value of the gold. An element is the element it is based on the number of protons it posses. Adding or removing protons changes the element (and we can do this). There's more info here.

sabretoothtigger

Ultimately I dont think anything is impossible just increasingly unlikely but sure Im not that surprised. Its a bit over my head but I think we can agree gold will always be rare

Interesting, Im not certain that article says I could order some new gold made tomorrow if I was a billionaire, I guess there is no demand for this idea - gold is not useful enough

. Nuclear reactors also may used for creating elements, although the conditions are less controlled.

Yep Im aware radiation can transform elements or something, Ive just not heard of it being done. Anyone interested in this should look at what nuclear technology the chinese are using, apparently its very safe which would be nice to see. France I read are about to use Fusion ie. not fission
Again, is that practical Im not sure

it is practical to obtain gold from lead ores. The minerals galena (lead sulfide, PbS), cerussite (lead carbonate, PbCO3), and anglesite (lead sulfate, PbSO4) often contain zinc, gold, silver, and other metals. Once the ore has been pulverized, chemical techniques are sufficient to separate the gold from the lead. The result is almost alchemy...almost.

Isnt that normal mining. I dont know geology but I often see silver companies report earnings from lead sales zinc and so on.
A pure silver mine does not occur ? Gold often has to be refined at great expense

Elements heavier than iron are formed in the stellar explosion of a supernova. In a supernova gold may be made into lead, but not the other way around.

This is why I said impossible. Diamonds can be made by volcanos, so earth made.
Gold is an alien substance, its not made in this galaxy. We'd need an asteroid to get more. So gold is fixed to mining technology and the cost of labour and power to extract it

a supernova can radiate as much energy as the Sun is expected to emit over its entire life span

So making more gold 'easily' would wipe out the earth However it would be very pretty :j

atush

Are we getting ot particle physics now?

If so, Brian cox is on the tube, I guess I can just go watch him lol.

Ark_Welder

Fusion is the Grail of energy generation. Not sure that it is that close just yet. And there has been strong research in the UK for a good many years too. When it is there, though, it should decimate the demand for fossil fuels for electricity generation.

I'm quite happy to go with particle physics so long as I have some deep, deep sounds to go with the images. :cool2: (that one 'cos it's old school smiley...)

atypical

I'm surprised you replied so comprehensively! I just thought I'd mention it as a point of interest. I'm also surprised you quoted from the article so selectively . I assume you read this: "Transmutation of lead into gold isn't just theoretically possible - it has been achieved!"

sabretoothtigger wrote: »

Its a bit over my head but I think we can agree gold will always be rare

Not necessarily. If we ever found a way of adding or removing protons easily then we could make whatever element we liked from another element.

sabretoothtigger wrote: »

Interesting, Im not certain that article says I could order some new gold made tomorrow if I was a billionaire, I guess there is no demand for this idea - gold is not useful enough

It doesn't say that. But if you were rich and stupid enough you could probably invest the money that would make it possible. Bit useless as the cost would be greater than the gold created.

sabretoothtigger wrote: »

Isnt that normal mining.

Yes. The article is just giving another example related to getting gold 'from' lead.

sabretoothtigger wrote: »

This is why I said impossible. Diamonds can be made by volcanos, so earth made. Gold is an alien substance, its not made in this galaxy. We'd need an asteroid to get more. So gold is fixed to mining technology and the cost of labour and power to extract it

Every single element in the periodic table isn't made naturally on earth. Creating diamonds isn't creating an element, it is changing the form of an element (carbon). Hence diamonds can be made artificially.

Gold isn't strictly alien as it was formed when the earth was formed. I think you mean to say that any new gold would have to be from an alien source.

sabretoothtigger wrote: »

So making more gold 'easily' would wipe out the earth However it would be very pretty :j

Nature makes new elements by adding protons. It does this in stars and supernovas. By adding protons you can only go from an element lower in the periodic table to one higher. That's why you can't go from lead (higher) to gold (lower).

Particle accelerators on earth do the opposite i.e. they remove protons. I assume that's because this is easier to do.

In any case, adding protons isn't much use because the easiest element to do that with would be platinum as it is 1 proton less than gold. But obviously platinum is worth more than gold so you'd be spending a ridiculous amount of money to make something less valuable.

But it's all academic. I just thought it was interesting as the idea of making gold is less fiction than most people think.

kidmugsy

Ark_Welder wrote: »

Agree absolutely wholeheartedly with this.



Actually, I consider gold to be very, very similar to Coca-Cola: neither are products for which I have any personal desire, but I am quite happy to benefit from those that do.

Gold is less dangerous - no sugar.

kidmugsy

jamesallen wrote: »

But gold is little different from fiat currencies. It has limited supply, but it has little intrinsic value. Its price can fluctuate just as wildly as the dollar, pound or yen.

But thousands of years of history strongly suggest that gold won't go to zero, whereas the pound, dollar and yen assuredly will. People dig up Roman gold - yippee. They dig up Roman bronze coins - no champers.