Activity in the gold markets has focused investors' attention on this unique commodity. To provide the reader with a better understanding of the trade the book is set out in three sections. The first sketches the structure of the gold market from the point of view of the commodity analyst before reviewing in detail the institutions and practices of bullion and futures trading; the second looks at gold mining setting the boom of the past decade in the context of a longer term perspective; the third surveys the used of gold, past and present, and discusses the metal's future prospects.