Welcome to the world of gold!
Can it have been fifty years? Can a local gem and mineral show have grown into the largest gem, mineral, and jewelry event on Earth? It hardly seems possible--and yet it is. In keeping with this fiftieth anniversary of the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, Gold is the 2004 theme. Finally we have a theme that is important to all participants, whether dealer, buyer, or casual visitor. Gold is an artistic medium to the jewelry trade, a desirable specimen mineral to the collector, and a monetary standard of sorts and symbol of wealth to us all. This year's show promises to perpetuate the trend of "bigger and better" set by the past several years' efforts and will boast an unusually wide variety of dealers and both competitive and noncompetitive exhibits focusing on gold. There also will be the traditional technical symposium sponsored by the Mineralogical Society of America, the Friends of Mineralogy, and the Tucson Gem and Mineral Society.
Much has happened in the world of gold during the past fifty years. Its entire economics have changed, due in part to the elimination of the fixed price of $35/troy ounce and the resulting surge that briefly reached $800/ounce during the following decade. With this price restructuring came the rather rapid development of megamines and associated heap-leach technology. These mines, many of which are still in operation, produce huge tonnages of ore of such low grade that it would have been considered nothing more than slightly mineralized host rock by geologists and engineers of prior generations. Old mines, such as the Homestake in South Dakota, were given extended lives as ore values grew far faster than the cost of operation. New high-grade mines were discovered, such as the Meikle of barite fame north of Elko, Nevada; the Sleeper in Humboldt County, Nevada; and the Goldcorp mine in Ontario. The net effect was more gold being produced and, consequently, more specimens. To be sure, not all new mines were specimen producers, but some were, and a series of spectacular finds occurred during the past twenty-five years. Add to this the development of relatively inexpensive gold-specific metal detectors, which spurred an electronic prospecting boom in Australia, the American West, and northern Mexico, and the desire of at least one major government to sell its unrefined nugget gold on the world market, and the picture for those wishing to add gold to their collections was bright indeed.
A perusal of dealers' stocks over the past several decades highlights this change in the gold industry and its impact on specimen availability and cost. Important finds made at the commercial operations of the Sonora Mining Company mine at Jamestown, Tuolumne County, and the 16 to 1 mine in
Allegheny County, California, were in evidence at major shows, as was the product of specimen-specific mining efforts, such as those at the Eagle's Nest and Colorado Quartz mines, also in California. Gold nuggets by the pound were available from both the Lena River area of Russia as well as from Western Australia and Victoria, Australia. The now-famous Goldcorp discovery at Balmertown (the Red Lake mine), Ontario, coupled with a specimen-friendly company policy resulted in yet another source of good gold specimens. Today's prices are not cheap, but in relative terms they never have been. The latter half of the past fifty years has been a good time to build an entire gold collection or simply to add a few modest-priced gold specimens to one's collection. We will certainly see the results of these collection-building efforts reflected in both competitive and special exhibits at this year's Tucson Show.
The response to the call for papers for this year's symposium, to be held on Saturday, 14 February 2004 at the Tucson Convention Center, was unusually good. Once again a wide array of international speakers will cover such diverse topics as gold crystallography and chemistry; the occurrence of gold in a variety of localities, including South Africa, Australia, and the southeastern and western United States; and the systematic, undisplayed portion of the famous Harvard gold collection. Speakers include professional geologists, professors, curators, and mineral dealers. Admission is FREE, and all those interested in learning more about our favorite metal are raged to attend.
Robert B. Cook
Executive Editor, Rocks & Minerals
Cochairman, 2004 Gold Symposium
