Conversations overheard at the gold trading room watercooler

The thing about gold, is that since it is a free currency, gold is mixed inextricably up with all kinds of international politics, military adventures, drugs, and banking intrigue.

So It seems to me that we need an all encompassing gold forum thread which can contain all the "other" gold trading conversations, that don't fit so well in eg, the setup big trade thread, or don't seem to require their own separate thread either.

So here it is. A thread for the wide ranging snippets of information and gossip you might hear if you hang out beside the watercooler unit, at the back of the gold trading room.