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Gold prices in New York climbed to the highest in three weeks as a decline in the value of the dollar boosted the appeal of the metal as an alternative investment.
Gold generally moves in the opposite direction of the dollar, which has dropped against 13 major currencies this year. The metal is up 23% this year, while the dollar is down 10% against the euro. „Weakness in the dollar is clearly driving this gold market higher,” said Carlos Perez-Santalla, president of Hudson River Futures in New York. Gold futures for February delivery rose $6.60, or 1.1%, to $636.90 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest close since December 7.
The metal is up 2.3% this week and has gained for four sessions in a row. A futures contract is an obligation to buy or sell a commodity at a set price for delivery by a specific date. Gold has gained each year since 2001, moving in tandem with the euro from 2002 to 2004. Last year, the metal rose 18%, even as the dollar rallied 14% against the euro.
„The driving force behind gold's long bull market is that of central bank diversification away from the huge dominance of dollar-denominated assets toward other reservable assets,” said Dennis Gartman, trader, economist and editor of the Suffolk, Virginia-based Gartman Letter. The United Arab Emirates central bank on December 24 said it will convert some of its reserves of US assets into the euro. The country is among petroleum exporters, including Iran, Venezuela and Indonesia, that may shift reserves into euros or price oil in the 12-nation currency.
Sales of gold by central banks fell 31% in the third quarter to 59 metric tons from a year ago, according to the World Gold Council. European Central Bank members this year failed to meet the 500 ton quota for gold sales under the second so-called Central Bank Gold Agreement. „There's anticipation of higher prices to come,” said Perez-Santalla Hudson River Futures. „I'm expecting a weaker dollar and higher gold.”
Gold
Gold is usually found in hydrothermal deposits where it forms at a wide
range of temperatures and geological settings. Gold may form in exhalative deposits
formed on the sea floor associated with Archean basaltic sequences known as greenstone
belts. It may form in veins associated with large granite intrusions associated with
mountain building. It may also form in veins formed along major fault zones. Gold in veins
is associated with sulfides, quartz and calcite. Wisconsin Locations
Diamonds
Most diamonds form within the earth's mantle at
depths of 100 to 200 km. They are brought to the surface by the action of deep-seated
magma which crystallizes to form pipe to dike shaped bodies of the igneous rock called
lamproites. Since diamond is physically and chemically resistant it survives weathering
and can be transported long distances from its source by rivers or glaciers. When
deposited it occurs with the denser minerals such as magnetite, garnet and gold. A number
of diamonds, however, have been found through the years in glacial drift and river
sediments in Wisconsin. Recently, a diamondiferous lamproite was discovered in the
subsurface in Kenosha, Wisconsin. This suggests a local source for at least some of the
drift diamonds, although others could have been transported longer distances, from
Michigan or Canada . Wisconsin Locations
  
Opals
Opal is a mineraloid composed of spherical
silica aggregates with various amounts of interstitial water. It forms under a wide range
of low-temperature geological conditions. Opal may be deposited by silica secreting
organisms such as diatoms in lakes (forming a sediment called diatomaceous earth) or by
land plants such as bamboo. It is deposited as a result of near-surface hot spring or
hydrothermal activity. A clear variety, called hyalite forms in granite pegmatites. Opal
may be deposited by the action of silica-rich groundwater in rock pores. Precious opal is
a rare variety whose beautiful play-of-colors is the result of light defracted by
microscopic silica spheres have a particular size and spacing. No precious opal is known
from Wisconsin, although common opal has been found in several areas. Wisconsin
Locations
  
Topaz
Topaz forms in granitic pegmatites, in
cavities in rhyolitic volcanic rocks and in residual soils and placers derived from them.
Wisconsin Locations
Lost Treasure
In 1953, a boy swimming in the Wisconsin River, found three ten pound
gold bars. They were on a riverboat that sank in 1870 with $100,000 on
board. Located - on the east river bank half a mile south of Portage.
Crawford County: Wisconsin Locations
Wisconsin Prospectors web pages. upated 8/7/04 |
