ELECTRIC GRIDLOCK FOR GOLD

Gold's astronomic rise in price can be placed mainly on two factors: the sinking of the US dollar and a general fear of inflation and the instability of paper assets. Not too much attention has focused on the supply side of gold and silver, but more of platinum, palladium and plain old copper.

"In South Africa, the main power supplier, Eskom, has run out of reserve capacity, and this has caused rolling power cuts," Trickey says. "Many platinum and palladium mines had to close temporarily at the end of January, since power could not be guaranteed, and this posed a safety risk, especially for the underground mines." The result is that mines are operating at just 95% capacity, at a time when industrial demand, primarily in China, remains at full throttle. "They're able to operate on that, but companies are looking at ways to find individual power sources of their own," she says.

Palladium, thanks to these and other factors, rose from less than $200 per ounce in March 2003, to nearly $580 in February this year before settling down to its current mid-$400 range. Both platinum and palladium have vast industrial uses, they're quite pricey and can be substituted for each other. the short-term prognosis for platinum has most analysts at cross purposes. Platinum recently traded at up to $2,276 per ounce before settling down to its current range just below $2,000.

Palladium on the other hand has a strong following mainly due to the paradox that, as with platinum, most of the factors that can make demand for the metal go down actually make it go up. In other words, the factors that hurt demand for palladium as an industrial metal actually help it as a precious metal, and vice versa - at least, that's the perception. A global deflationary trend would, in reality, drag down the price of both precious and industrial metals.

You can always be sure that the price we pay you for your silver, gold and platinum will be higher than anyone else. We are the refiners and that enable us to always pay our customers more than market value!  Visit www.cash4gold.com for more information...

Precious metals popping up all over

Gold has raced up in price more than 50% in the last year. Other precious metals have gone along for the ride including platinum and palladium. So, is this the end of fiat currency as we know it, as gold bugs have claimed? has the commodities bubble finally burst and will gold prices head back south? What are the forces jostling the global metals markets?

Boris Schmitz-Thiersen's family has been selling jewelry in the same location in Cologne, Germany, for more than 100 years. He has begun offering bracelets made of a peculiar white metal mined in South Africa. "It's pure palladium," he explains. "Pretty, isn't it?" Yes - and relatively cheap, trading around $450 per troy ounce, compared to just under $2,000 for the same amount of platinum, and about $1,000 for gold. Silver, by contrast, is trading at between $17 and $18 per ounce.

The decision to sell palladium instead of platinum is one of those innocent ideas that if adopted by all the jewelry stores in the universe, could have major ramifications for the price of these two most precious of metals. Jewelry currently accounts for about 20% of total platinum demand, but that, unlike gold, platinum and palladium are primarily industrial metals and not stores of value.

"If prices of platinum get too high, you could see a substitution on the industrial side to palladium," she says. "This is why I'm more bullish on palladium than I am on platinum."

Yet it is platinum's secondary function as a precious metal that is driving prices to the stratosphere.

At Cash4Gold we don't just buy your gold scrap, unused gold jewelry and gold coins. We also buy platinum, silver and other precious metals. Visit our website today to see what precious metals we can buy from you!  Visit www.cash4gold.com for more information!