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Gold is one of the rarest elements in the world, making up roughly 0.003 parts per million of the earth’s crust. But how much gold is the world digging up each year and what countries produce the most? In 2017, global gold mine production was a reported 3,247 tonnes. This figure is down 5 tonnes from the previous year and marks the first annual drop since 2008, according to the GFMS Gold Survey 2018. The driving forces behind the drop in output were environmental concerns, crackdowns on illegal mining operations and rising costs. This raises the question I’ve explored recently...

The world’s first trillionaire won’t come from cryptocurrency or some clever new app – he or she will become rich from asteroid mining. _____________________________________________________________________ That’s what bankers Goldman Sachs reckon, anyway – and several companies are now vying to be the first into space. NASA estimates that the total value of asteroids out there could be up to $700 quintillion – equivalent to £75 billion each for us here on Earth. Several companies are now buidling the machines which will take us there – including Deep Space Industries, which is building a steam-powered thruster for spacecraft, the Guardian reports. British...

[Martha's Vineyard] The Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation this week issued a public apology and launched an overhaul of its land management practices following the revelation that large numbers of trees and other plants had been dug up from two of its preserves and used to landscape an exclusive private property on the North Shore. *** The two foundation properties, the Caroline Tuthill Preserve in Edgartown and the Priscilla Hancock Meadow in Chilmark, were left damaged by heavy earth moving equipment brought in by contractors hired to landscape the 30-acre property of Dirk Ziff near Lambert’s Cove in West Tisbury.

A Swiss news site has said that the Turkish treasury has moved 19 tons of gold to Switzerland from the United States in an attempt to dodge potential sanctions. BZ Basel said the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, which is officially extraterritorial, with not even Swiss police being able to enter, had taken the shipment from Fort Knox. The news site speculated that one reason for Turkey removing the reserves from the United States could be fear over possible economic sanctions on the country’s state owned bank Halkbank, which faces a likely fine following revelations that it allowed Iran to...

A more than 300-year-old Spanish shipwreck carrying treasure that might be worth up to $17 billion was discovered with the help of an underwater robot. It's called the Remus 6000 and it can dive nearly four miles and is loaded with sensors and cameras. Bronze cannons confirmed "the holy grail of shipwrecks" had been found at the bottom of the Caribbean Sea. They are engraved with dolphins — a telltale sign they belong to the Spanish galleon San Jose, lost more than 300 years ago. "I just sat there for about 10 minutes and smiled," said Jeff Kaeli, a research...

Iran and Russia Discuss Transacting in Crypto to Avoid International Sanctions Molly Jane Zuckerman Iran and Russia could start using cryptocurrencies to avoid Western sanctions, Russian news portal RBC reported yesterday, May 17. Mohammad Reza Pourebrahimi, the head of the Iranian Parliamentary Commission for Economic Affairs, referred to cryptocurrencies as a promising way for both countries to avoid US dollar transactions, as well as a possible replacement of the SWIFT interbank payment system. At a meeting with Dmitry Mezentsev, the Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Economic Policy, Pourebrahimi said that they have “engaged the Central Bank of Iran...

...a magnificent hoard of ancient gold objects discovered by Spanish construction workers near Seville in 1958... 2,700-year-old treasure... sparked speculation and debate about Tartessos, a civilization that thrived in southern Spain between the ninth and sixth centuries B.C... That wealth, and the fact that the Tartessians seemingly 'disappear' from history about 2,500 years ago... Another side of the debate held that the jewelry came with the Phoenicians – a Semitic, seafaring culture from the Near East which first arrived in the western Mediterranean in the eighth century B.C. and established a trading port at what is now modern-day Cadiz... The...

A priceless 16th-century casket containing the embalmed heart of a French queen consort has been found after it was snatched by thieves earlier this month. The theft of the 500g solid golden box containing Anne of Brittany's heart had fuelled fears the relic would be melted just for its weight in gold. The casket was taken along with other relics after robbers reportedly broke in through a window of the Thomas-Dobree museum in the western French city of Nantes. French police arrested two men who then led them to the buried haul on Saturday. Anne of Brittany was born in...

A galactic gold rush has been predicted for some time, with experts saying teams will race against each other to collect precious metals from space rocks. Earlier this year, physicist Michio Kaku described asteroids as “flying gold mine[s] in outer space” that could replenish any metal shortage on Earth. Examples of valuable asteroids include one rock measuring 3,000ft across that contains $5.4 trillion worth of platinum. And now it is predicted the first trillionaire will make their fortune in outer space. PRICELESS: One asteroid contains $5.4trillion worth of platinum __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson: “The first trillionaire there will...

Gold is surging to two-year highs. But does the rally have legs? Gold is surging to two-year highs. But does the rally have legs? 19 Hours Ago | 02:30 Gold soared to two-year highs this week as uncertainty rattled the market. The bull run isn't over yet, says one strategist. "I am a buyer. I really do like it," Boris Schlossberg, managing director of FX strategy at BK Asset Management, told CNBC's "Trading Nation" on Wednesday. It's "retaking its mantle as the key defensive asset against bitcoin, which has certainly suffered a lot over the last couple of months." As...

Legislation introduced in Congress recently would define the U.S. dollar as a fixed amount of gold, a move that supporters say would help stabilize the monetary system while protecting savers, workers, and investors from the ravages of inflation. If signed into law, the bill would also restrict the ability of the controversial Federal Reserve System to confiscate the American people's wealth and manipulate the economy by expanding the currency supply. President Donald Trump has publicly supported the idea of returning to a gold-backed dollar, but the prospects for the new legislation remain uncertain. The legislation, H.R. 5404, would “define the...

Sponsor: Rep. Mooney, Alexander X. [R-WV-2] (Introduced 03/22/2018) Committees: House - Financial Services Latest Action: House - 03/22/2018 Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services. (All Actions)

The highly anticipated yuan-backed crude oil futures have been launched in Shanghai. China is the world’s biggest oil consumer, with eyes on rival benchmarks Brent and WTI as well as the US currency. Trading of the new oil futures contracts for September settlement started on the Shanghai International Energy Exchange at 440.20 yuan ($69.70) per barrel, reports Chinese daily the South China Morning Post. Some 18,540 lots have reportedly been sold and purchased so far. long-awaited step evoked a surge in global prices for oil with Brent Crude soaring to $71 a barrel for the first time since 2015. US...

CHIDDINGSTONE, ENGLAND -- Kent Live reports that a hoard of gold coins was discovered by a metal detectorist in a farmer’s field in southeast England. The ten coins are thought to have been minted in northern France about 2,000 years ago. The Gauls may have used the coins to pay or bribe mercenaries to fight against Julius Caesar. Archaeologist Claire Donithorn of the Eden Valley Museum said the coins are being held at the British Museum, but may be returned to the local area. "They date from precisely the time when Britain emerged from prehistoric to historic times," she said....

The FBI came out empty handed at the remote Pennsylvania site where Civil War-era gold treasure is rumored to be buried, officials said Monday. Dozens of FBI agents, Pennsylvania state officials and members of a treasure-hunting group dug in a rural site where local lore has it that a Civil War-era gold shipment bound for a U.S. Mint in Philadelphia was either lost or hidden around the time of the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863. President Abraham Lincoln reportedly ordered the shipment to pay Union Army soldiers, according to a local treasure-hunting group called Finders Keepers.The FBI said it conducted...

When Sgt. Jim Connors tipped back a few too many, he’d talk about the legend of lost Civil War gold, and boast about its whereabouts deep in the hills of Western Pennsylvania. Connors, according to a 1978 United Press International article in the Pittsburgh Press, was part of a special Union detachment tasked with transporting 26 gold bars, each weighing 50 pounds, from West Virginia to the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia in the summer of 1863.According to one version of the story, Connors staggered into Lock Haven, in north-central Pennsylvania, as the lone survivor of an ambush. The gold was...

As a 155-year-old legend goes, a Union Army wagon train left Wheeling, W.Va., before the Battle of Gettysburg, carrying two tons of gold, but never completed its 400-mile mission. The gold was supposed to be used to pay Union soldiers. But it first had to make it to the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia, according to the Associated Press. It never did. The wagon train traveled northeast and was last spotted in St. Marys, Pa. Searchers found the wagons and the bodies of dead soldiers — and the gold was gone. But maybe not forever. On Friday, dozens of FBI agents,...

Has $55million worth of lost gold from the Civil War era been found in central Pennsylvania? That's what locals seem to believe after FBI agents, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and treasure hunters Dennis and Kem Parada were seen digging around a remote area in Benezette Township, called Dents Run. Dennis and his son Kem, the owners of the treasure hunting organization Finders Keepers, have claimed for years that 52 gold bars were buried under a fire pit at Dents Run more than 150 years ago during the Battle of Gettysburg.

A reported 200 bars of gold and other precious metals have scattered across an airport runway in Russia after a cargo plane door broke off upon takeoff. Strong winds blew off the Nimbus Airline An-12 cargo plane door upon takeoff from Yakutsk Airport, airport officials told Interfax on Thursday.  After the incident, the plane crew made an emergency landing in a village airport some 12 kilometers from Yakutsk.

This thread is a friendly collaborative place for FReepers to analyze information and share opinons. FReepers have a wide variety of reasons for investigating Q Anon content; this is not the appropriate place to criticize or badger those who choose to use some of their time in this manner. This thread is a continuation of the prior Q Anon thread located here: http://freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3636549/posts I plan to post one thread at a time and ping new drops posted to it. The current schedule is to post new threads Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. When I post each (new) thread, the prior thread...