Showing posts with label cash for gold. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cash for gold. Show all posts

Friday, April 1, 2011

How rare is Gold


Gold is extremely rare: According to all geological experience it is found only in low concentrations in rocks. Its average concentration in the Earth's crust is 0.005 parts per million.

In the world, there are currently somewhere between 120,000 and 140,000 tonnes of gold 'above ground'. To visualise this imagine a single solid gold cube with edges of about 19 metres (about three metres short of the length of a tennis court). That's all that has ever been produced.

Divided amongst the population of the world there are about 23 grams per person, about 1.2 cubic centimetres each. This equates to about £155 - £215 worth per person on Earth, depending on the current price.

Gold still underground: Where it is known about with reasonable confidence, and can be extracted economically, un-mined gold appears on the books of mining companies as reserves. There remains as reserves about 40% of the total of gold above ground, i.e about 50,000 tonnes. South Africa has 50% of the world's known stock of un-mined gold.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Cash for gold scam exposed

Gold-buying firms have been told to improve by Office of Fair Trading.

Gold Companies that buy gold for cash have grown in number in recent years.

Three companies that buy gold from consumers by post have been ordered to improve their treatment of customers.



CashMyGold, Cash4Gold and Postal Gold
agreed to make changes after an Office of Fair Trading (OFT) investigation.

The high price of gold has meant that companies that exchange people's gold for cash have grown in popularity.

But the OFT found that a handful were locking customers into accepting the offer made for their gold items.

Sometimes customers' jewellery was melted down on the assumption that they had accepted a quote.

The watchdog found that some businesses were sending customers a payment for their gold, which if not rejected and returned within a very short period of time by customers, was taken as consent for the payment.

That meant the gold was then melted down.


Gold jewellery Gold-buying companies must now offer clearer information and more options to customers:

* Providing people with the option of a quotation for their gold - which the customer would agree to, or withdraw from the deal - or just a payment

* Clear information on the prices offered, including the weight and carat of the gold

* Details on whether gemstones can be accepted, and explaining the risks to the customer of sending them

* Making sure when referring to a "high price" on offer, that they are referring to the scrap price of the gold



Next Page: Tips on safer way to sell your Gold and Silver items.