Yamana Gold Inc. (NYSE:AUY), Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD), and even the Godfather of mining, Rio Tinto (NYSE:RTP) at a mind blowing $398 a share are your safe bets.  That's right Masters, with the market, recession, and fear striken investing public selling everything in sight, it's time to be all over gold.

Today gold broke through its previous all-time high of $850 an ounce—which it set back in 1980, amid skyrocketing inflation and Middle East tensions—to briefly touch $900 Friday on the New York Mercantile Exchange and to close at $891 in London.

Gold prices tend to rise during such periods of turbulence, as investors move money from more volatile investments, like stocks and bonds, into the relative safety of gold. In response to the recent developments, "people are saying, 'It looks like I should raise my allocation of gold from maybe 3 to 5 percent to as high as 8 to 10 percent,' " Nadler says. "In a small market like gold, that makes a big difference." Bigger players, such as hedge funds, have also contributed to the higher prices and increased volatility, Nadler says.

The price of gold has been on the rise for most of the decade but surged 30 percent in 2007. Last year's spike was rooted in a number of factors, including the weakening U.S. dollar, rising oil prices, higher demand for gold from India and China, increased mining costs, and the introduction of gold exchange-traded funds, which have allowed more investors to put their money into the precious yellow metal. But late in the year, growing Middle East tensions, coupled with the U.S. housing crisis, injected an additional level of fear into the market that boosted gold prices further.

Fellow Masters, if gold can rise $36 in less than five hours, it can easily cross $1500 in 2008 and $2000 in 2009. Sounds crazy, but with the herd mentality looking for a safe bet, it's not unreasonable.

To help you with your hunt for gold, here's a list of 'Gold Growth Stocks' put together by Scott Adams from theGlobeandMail.com

SOURCE: THOMSON