The Gold Rush of '08

March 11, 2008

What with gold reaching unheard of new prices, more folks are taking up panning for the precious metal as a fun & profitable vacation activity. I must admit the idea holds some attraction. After all, gold panning generally requires mountains and streams -- a combination of landscape features which generally creates a fine place to hang out. My interest is somewhat tempered, however, by too many years of other back-breaking work (or maybe it's just tempered by the load of flagstones I laid out in my backyard on Sunday). Perhaps when my boys are older and greedier, they'll want to try it. While I sit by the beer cooler and watch.

Along those lines, here's a bit of interesting gold trivia (not so trivial to some) about gold, brought to us this month by the U.S. Geological Survey:

The USGS provides information on where gold and other mineral commodities are produced and suspected to be on Earth. For example, in 2006, South Africa was the leading gold producer among more than 80 gold-mining nations, followed by the U.S., China, Australia and Peru. Mines in Nevada accounted for almost 82 percent of U.S. production in 2006. The remaining domestic production came from mines in Utah, Alaska, Colorado, Montana, South Dakota, California, New Mexico, Arizona and Idaho, in descending order of amount mined. To learn more, visit http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/gold/

Comments

[Marlene]

Enjoyed your post - I am a died in the wool prospector - just a great reason to be in the woods. Wishing you the best.