Gold Investor

The ongoing strikes at South African platinum mines do not seem to be over anytime soon as the industry's union (ACMU) has made some brand new demands of the mining companies. This does not look good for platinum mining in South Africa, which accounts of 80% of worldwide platinum mining, but should be a positive for the price of the precious metal/commodity.

What better way to jazz up that $160 sandwich than to top it off with some (edible) gold leaf? That's what chef Luke Venner has done at his NY based restaurant, BLT Fish. The request only lobster roll features lobster (of course), caviar and is topped with gold leaf. And people say "you can't eat gold".

Gold monetization has made trading, investing and in a sense manipulating of the precious metal a whole lot easier. But eventually investors won't be satisfied with a piece of paper and will want to hold the physical metal to negate any counter party risk. So says investor, commentator and author Jim Rickards. Jim has written a couple of very successful books; the most recent being The Death of Money and its predecessor, Currency Wars, which was published a couple of years ago. In this interview with Greg Hunter, Rickards lays out his views on some upcoming drastic changes to the current financial system which would affect the lives of billions of people. This is a must watch interview regardless of your views on gold.

Many gold watchers have been looking towards the newly elected Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi and his BJP government, to clarify their stand on legal gold imports into India. Now the Indian central bank (RBI), has already started easing some of the gold import restrictions by allowing an additional seven companies/entities to import gold. Reuters reports:

"The RBI eased tough gold import rules on Wednesday by allowing seven more private agencies to ship the precious metal, a move that industry officials say could augment supplies and reduce premiums in the peak wedding season."

"As a result, more than 20 entities, including state-run banks, private banks and agencies will now be allowed to import the metal. "This is a welcome step as it is some sort of relaxation. Supplies will increase in another 8-10 days and premiums will certainly come down," said Bachhraj Bamalwa, director with All India Gems and Jewellery Trade Federation."Some gold that was routed through illegal channels will now be routed legally."

An interview with David Morgan of Silver-Investor.com and Rory Hall of TheDailyCoin.org delving into the realities of silver supply, (industrial/investment) demand and price of paper vs physical silver, especially Canadian silver Maple Leafs and American silver Eagle coins.

A lot of the physical gold that moves around needs to be refined to reach the desired purity and size of the new buyers - either after the initial refining at the mine, transfer from central banks or as part of the general recycling of gold. The London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) accredited refining industry is highly concentrated in Switzerland with over 3,000 tonnes per year passing through the tiny European country. Johnson Matthey, Valcambi, Metalor, Argor Heraeus and PAMP are the Swiss gold refining behemoths - some of which even retail gold buyers would recognize.

The burgeoning Middle Eastern market for gold has seen Dubai emerge as a hub for precious metal trading, both to meet the (wealthy) local demand as well the Indian and Chinese demand for gold bullion and jewelry. Kaloti Precious Metals already operates a 450 tonne per year gold refinery in Dubai but now has concrete plans to significantly increase its local refining capacity as it also sets up as an accredited refinery on the "Good Delivery List" of LBMA.

Rates of male fertility have been declining over the last few decades with lifestyle, diet/nutrition and chemical exposure being the most common reasons cited by the experts. More recently, with the huge growth in both cellular and wireless device use, studies have also shown that the electromagnetic (EM) radiation from mobile phones and Wi-Fi devices can also negatively affect male reproductive health. Several studies seem have been done, with many showing a relationship. A British entrepreneur is pitching an Indiegogo campaign to sell special underwear, which uses silver threads woven into the cotton fabric to create a faraday cage, thus preventing male reproductive damage in our EM rich environment. Enter:

Wireless Armour: Men's Underwear Protecting Your Health
Premium men's underwear that protects your health from Electromagnetic radiation. Designed for men who live in the modern world.

Pension plans in the United Kingdom are awaiting a ruling from their financial services industry regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), on whether gold bullion will be added to its list of “standard assets”. The FCA defines standard assets as:

“...capable of being accurately and fairly valued on an ongoing basis, readily realized whenever required, up to a maximum of 30 days, and for an amount that can be reconciled with the previous valuation”...

Logically speaking, this should make the approval of gold a no brainer but the final FCA decision is expected later this year. Investment grade gold has been an allowed holding in self-invested personal pensions since 2006 but a positive ruling by the FCA should increase the awareness of available gold bullion investment, with the British investors.

There is a lot of deep reflection taking place in the investment field, with many thinkers trying to wrap their heads around the current economic, geopolitical and investment markets. David Smith, a senior analyst for The Morgan Report presents his views on sticking by one's well researched investment principles.



"If you believe you are right, and the data says hold your ground, then hold your ground."
Eric Sprott

The meteoric advances in computers, cell phones and electronics in general have resulted in a lot of outdated gadgets either ending up in landfills, expensive recycling operations or third world countries where components are burned off or treated with harsh chemicals, to extract the minute amount of gold, silver, copper and other metals that are used in the printed circuit boards. This also releases many other hazardous materials that are used in the electronics and is not good for the people working on extracting the metals and the environment. The EE Times reports that a company in Finland has come up with a biological solution to extract some of these metals. VTT Technical Research Centre has found that mushrooms can extract 80% of the gold from electronic scrap.

"Further crushing, sieving, and flotation (a separation method that separates hydrophobic particles from hydrophilic particles by blowing air into the sludge) resulted in a fraction with high concentration of valuable metals for solution extraction experiments. The researchers say their flotation technique raised the copper content of the circuit board fraction from 25% to 45%, while gold content increased by a factor of 1.5.