Investing in gold mining stocks can be a good addition to your portfolio but as a growth investment which cannot be considered equivalent to hedging with gold bullion. The reason for this is that stocks in gold mining companies face many more challenges than simply the price of gold.

The valuation of gold mining shares is based on a number of factors including the company’s potential future revenue which is often impossible to predict. No one really knows how gold prices will evolve nor if the company will be successful in keeping their operational costs down or creating gold… Continue reading

The main type of gold extraction today is hard rock mining using either open pit methods or sub-surface mines. Mining gold from water was a method that was widely used during the California gold rush but is not commercially viable today and is used mainly by artisan gold miners.

Gold Mining: Panning

The original method of mining gold from water was known as panning and is a manual technique to sort gold from gravel and sediments present in a stream. The pan is filled with material from the stream bed and then submerged underwater and shaken. As gold… Continue reading

Gold futures refers to a deals made to trade gold at current market prices but with settlement at a future date. In other words you don’t have to pay everything now nor does the seller have to deliver the gold immediately either. The date of settlement signifies the actual date when the exchange takes place and the average wait time is approximately 3 months.

The goal of gold futures contracts is for traders to sell the gold they have purchased before the date of settlement for a profit and this method allows them to leverage much larger amounts for… Continue reading

If you are looking into gold trading as a form of revenue or purely for investment purposes there are certain factors you need to consider beforehand. First and foremost, you will need to decide what type of gold you want to trade, whether bullion or equity. Each of these can then be broken down into either bars or coins and direct stock or mutual fund investment.

The next factor you need to focus on is the type of trading you are interested in, namely day trading, swing or position trading. In day trading, you will be buying and selling… Continue reading