Earlier this year the government of Canada sold off most of its gold reserves, mainly in the sole form
of selling their gold coins. The gold coins that were sold are iconic to Canada; the Royal Canadian
Mint has produced pure maple Leaf gold coins in a variety of denominations for well over 40 years.
Canada’s latest selling of gold reserves is very much part of a longer-term pattern. It takes time and
skill to keep on top of quality investments like Canada’s move away from the precious metal. There
are numerous factors to take into account when considering making an investment. It takes time
and skill. Discretionary Investment Managers are specialists at doing this on your behalf.
The International Monetary Fund’s has stated according to their International Financial Statistics,
Canada held three tonnes of gold reserves as of late 2015. Throughout most of 2015, the country’s
gold reserves stood at more than $100 million. The Finance department figures show that Canada
has sold 41,106 ounces of their gold coins in December alone, then a further 32,860 ounces of the
gold coins in January. The decisions that led to sell the gold was not tied to a specific gold price, and
the sales are being conducted over a long period of time so that it can be in a controlled in an
effective method.
The Canadian government has a long-standing policy of wishing to try and keep its portfolio diverse
and varied by selling physical commodities such as their gold. The Canadian government have
instead invested in financial assets that are easily tradable.
The figures that have been released have no idea of which gold coins have been sold. The Royal
Canadian Mint has produced pure Maple Leaf gold coins in a variety of denominations for many
years. They have proven to be incredibly popular around the world, as more than 25 million troy
ounces of coins have been sold since 1979. It has also produced many variations of gold, silver,
palladium and platinum coins for collectors, along with gold bars and even wafers.
Canada has had a long and lengthy history that can be traced to dating back to the 1912 period, in
which they produced $5 and $10 gold coins. The Royal Canadian Mint started to sell off its collection
of the 1912 vintage gold coins in 2012, that program ended just two years later in 2014. The
remaining lower-quality vintage coins were refined for the government who could then sell the
balance as gold bullion.
Canada is one of the world’s biggest gold-mining nations yet the government of Canada hasn’t been
a big buyer of any form of gold coins for many years. This is fairly unsurprising, since no country now
uses a gold standard to value and back its currency. Dating back to the 1960s Canada held more than
1,000 tonnes of gold; steadily Canada decided to sell of the majority of its gold reserve. In 1985 half
of Canada’s gold reserves were sold, then as of 2003 the country had just 3.4 tonnes, and now in
2016 Canada has less than one tonne of gold.