Gold price reaches four-month high
By Sara Israfilbayova
Gold is known to mankind from the Bronze Age. Gold has occupied a unique social status for millennia. It has a long history as a valuable metal and its history is far from over.
From the ancient Egyptians to the modern U.S. Treasury, there are few metals that have had such an influential role in human history as gold.
In 2010, more than 450 tons of gold were used for technical purposes in the world.
In electronics, metal is used as a coating for contacts, in particular in microcircuits. Gold coatings can be used in the manufacture of printed circuit boards, connectors.
A significant amount of gold consumes dentistry, and it is part of some pharmacological drugs.
Nevertheless, today gold mainly is used in the jewelry industry. And for the manufacture of jewelry can not be used pure metal, because it is too soft for this purpose. Therefore, its alloys with zinc, nickel, palladium, cobalt are used. And the color of the finished product is determined by the presence of copper and silver in it.
In 2010, over 2,000 tons of gold were used in the jewelry industry. Among the main consumers of gold jewelry, India traditionally occupies the first place, where up to 27 percent of the total world output is sold. It is followed by China and the U.S.
Gold is an exchange commodity. It has its own standard code, similar to currencies: as a rule, it is denoted by XAU. The main exchange sites are London Metal Exchange (LME, London Metal Exchange) and New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, New York Stock Exchange). Futures contracts for gold have a wide circulation.
Meanwhile, gold prices rise on January 23 against the weakening of dollar, trading near the maximum mark for four months.
The price of the February gold futures on the New York Stock Exchange Comex grew by $3.7, or 0.28 percent, to $1.340 per troy weight.
The price of the March silver futures increased by 0.69 percent, to $17.03 per ounce.
Azerbaijan has its rich gold deposits. Gold mostly is produced in Dashkasan (AzerGold CJSC) and in Gadabay (Anglo-Asian Mining, Britain) regions of the country.
About 900 fields were registered in Azerbaijan's state and territorial balance of reserves of mineral resources. The Ministry for Ecology and Natural Recourses estimates that the country is able to produce about 10-15 tons of gold per year.
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