Gold Investor

The country that ranks amongst the 15 largest economies in the world and a powerhouse in Asia, will just now start to trade physical gold on the open market. The South Korean regulators first announced this move in mid-2013 and starting tomorrow, the Korea Exchange Inc. bourse will begin trading 1 kilogram bars of 99.99% gold (in minimum 1 gram increments). This spot gold trading will come in addition to trades in gold futures contracts that are already established in South Korea. This move is expected to move some of the underground trade in gold to the official exchange and bring additional (tax) revenue for the government.

The Royal Canadian Mint is well known for gold, silver and platinum bullion coins that are much loved by precious metals investors but its real money maker is the vast number of numismatic coins geared towards collectors. These non-circulating legal tender (NCLT) coins are limited run coins that sell at a large premium to the underlying gold, silver, platinum or base metal value. They meet the needs of pure coin collectors and can help precious metals investors diversify their coin holdings.


The $250 Contemporary Canadian Art gold coins features an original work of art by renowned Canadian artist Tim Barnard. He was commissioned by RCM to design the reverse side of the coin with 50 distinct images symbolizing elements of Canada ranging from the country's weather, First Nations culture and mythology, wildlife, plants, rugged geography and more. The standard Susanna Blunt portrait of Queen Elizabeth II is found on the obverse of this gold coin.

The Indian authorities just don't seem to be able to make up their mind on what to do about its populace's love of gold. It seems that recent rumours of easing up have not panned through as Indian gold dealers and jewelers seem to be ready to call it quits.

"The jewellery trade in Mumbai was hit with members of the Indian Bullion and Jewellers Association downing shutters to protest against the restrictive trade policy of the Government. Mohit Kamboj, President, IBJA said: “Our call for a bandh today to protest against government policies was successful as nearly 90 per cent bullion traders in Mumbai, Maharashtra and Kolkata have observed the bandh. Except for big retailers, almost all wholesalers and manufacturers have joined the strike”. IBJA called for a day’s strike today to protest against harassment of bullion dealers and jewellers by various Government agencies."

India has historically been a huge market for gold, mostly because we know that Indians like to wear their wealth. In all seriousness, they have gotten good at protecting their purchasing power with hard assets or foreign currencies over the continually declining Rupee. The Indian government has been trying to unsuccessfully curb this appetite for gold but there is hope that they may look to ease up on some of the gold import curbs.

" The Ministry of Commerce and Industry today made a case for easing curbs on gold imports as over - regulation is encouraging smuggling of the yellow metal. “I have been of the consistent view that we have to have a balance. Over - regulation leads to another problem...and that is smuggling. Therefore, some easing is essential,” Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma told reporters here."

Many gold (and silver) investors have long suspected that the price of precious metals may have been manipulated by entities within the financial world, central banks and governments. Cartel type pricing already exists in some commodities so fixing the price of gold may not have been that far fetched, except that gold still plays a role as a financial asset. Investigations over the last half decade have raised questions about the pricing in many financials markets including sub-prime mortgage securities in the US, LIBOR, interest rate swaps, oil, silver, aluminum, and more. Bloomberg now reports that a draft study points to signs of gold price manipulation, with the punchline:

"Unusual trading patterns around 3 p.m. in London, when the so-called afternoon fix is set on a private conference call between five of the biggest gold dealers, are a sign of collusive behavior and should be investigated..."

Gold miners have enjoyed an uptick in stock prices this year though 2013 was a very tough year for the group. It seems like the gold miners are now taking these lower gold bullion prices to heart as they review their financials in order to make future quarters more attractive. No more living it up with a gold price that rose for a decade - they must actually see their executives do some work in terms of how they run their operations. In the last 24 hours, both Barrick Gold and Kinross Gold have made major announcements on write downs.

"Barrick Gold Corp. slashed its reserves by a quarter and took $2.82-billion (U.S.) in impairment charges on mines, including on its troubled Pascua Lama project in the Andes, the company’s latest moves to adjust to the weaker gold price."

David Morgan of Silver-Investor.com talks about his his 10 Reasons to own gold. David doesn't really address these 10 reasons in this video (they may have been presented at the Cambridge House Investor Conference) but its worth watching for a couple of nuggets.

Over the years there have been many claims, studies, articles, interviews, a couple of investigations and even lawsuits about the possible manipulation of gold (and silver) prices. With recent revelations of manipulations in LIBOR, foreign exchange rates and other financial instruments, the proponents of precious metals continue to feel that gold prices are also being artificially held down. Dmitrity Speck is a technical analyst who has recently written a book, titled The Gold Cartel: Government Intervention on Gold, the Mega Bubble in Paper, and What This Means for Your Future. In this podcast, he talks about his views on the manipulation of gold prices.

Money is universally recognised as the way that capitalist societies trade products and services, but there is nothing intrinsically valuable about currency itself. A coin is only worth the good or service it is being exchanged for, though theoretically, it is being exchanged for some sum of gold which is locked up in a bank somewhere. Precious metals – gold, silver, platinum, etc. – have been recognised the world over as being valuable, so if you’re a keen investor looking for a new opportunity, investing in precious metals might just be the route to go down. Here’s a beginner’s guide to precious metal investing if you’re unsure of how it works.

It is a well known fact that the former Texas Congressman Ron Paul is a huge proponent of gold playing a monetary role in the (US) economy. His statements to this effect and his questioning of the Federal Reserve during Congressional testimonies is legendary amongst gold bugs and "hard money" advocates. Since retiring from the United States Congress, Ron Paul has continued expressing his views on gold and the current (fiat) monetary system. In an interview with Brian Sullivan of CNBC for Yahoo Finance, he discusses the safe haven aspect of gold.