Gold Investor

Pakistan again halts gold imports to stem smuggling into India
The Pakistanis have apparently banned the import of gold into their country to stem the level of gold smuggling that they claim, is taking place from Pakistan to India. The insatiable Indian desire for gold amounted to 200 tons of the precious metal being smuggled in last year as the Indian government has been trying to discourage gold purchases.

Court to rule on gold strike
"A South African court will rule tomorrow whether a strike over wages called by the Association of Mineworkers and Construction at the country’s largest gold producers would be allowed to proceed."

Silver steadily heading towards $25 / ounce
A technical analysis of the price of silver and the view that price of this metal is on its way up to $25.

Indian politicians are not that different from others of their ilk, in that they want to be able to keep their (cushy) jobs. So it shouldn't come as a huge surprise, that as India heads to election for the lower house of its Parliament (Lok Sabha), the president of the ruling Congress party has asked the government to relax the draconian import taxes that her ruling party had imposed.

"Congress president Sonia Gandhi has written to the commerce ministry seeking a cut in the import duty on gold, reports ET Now, citing government sources. Ms Gandhi is said to have pushed for the relaxation of 80:20 scheme on the import of the yellow metal. This comes after three import duty hikes seen in the year gone by."

Adam Taggart at the Peak Prosperity podcast has an interesting interview and article about a new type of physical gold product - the Aurum. These notes contain 1/20 or 1/10 of a gram of gold and are a high-tech way of manufacturing portable gold.

"In today's podcast, I speak with Adam Trexler, President of Valaurum, about this technology and the gold-infused notes it creates. Valaurum's mission is to democratize ownership of gold by converting it into a form affordable to anyone."

Here is a video on the manufacturing process of the Aurum.

We are only 20 days into January but the bounce back in the price of gold since the December 31, 2013 lows continues to show positive signs, as it edges over the $1,250 mark. The insatiable demand from China and the resiliency of the Indian buyer for physical gold are likely playing a role in the move up from recent lows. Bloomberg further reports that;

"...investors weighed signs of increasing physical demand against the outlook for less U.S. stimulus. Platinum rose to the highest since November on prospects for strikes in South Africa.

What the Future Holds for Stocks and Gold
Barons story on how they see gold and the stock markets performing in 2014.

Ask Matt: Go for silver as gold crashes?
It seems that everyone has caught onto the silver story as a (lower price) alternative to gold. But are the two commodities tied at the hip?

Comex Warehouse Potential Claims Per Deliverable Ounce Rises to Historical High 112 to 1
"An almost shocking decline in deliverable (registered) gold has taken the ratio of open interest to deliverable gold to 112 to 1."

They're not meant for killing vampires in some future apocalypse nor are we referring to (light) beer. These silver bullets are made by the Northwest Territorial Mint and range from 1/4 oz (.22 LR) to 25 oz (22 mm). These are definitely not for every stacker - as you do pay a bit more of a premium - nor are they for real numismatic collectors because they are a private mint, this is bullion and we don't know about the size of their runs, etc. But you gotta give it to these guys - after its all said and done, these are the types of precious metal collectibles that would make collecting bullion fun. Here is a video for those wondering how they manage to make these various caliber/weight silver bullets.

The premium paid by buyers of silver coins (price of coin in excess of the price of the silver bullion in the coin) is expected to rise even further as demand for coins continues to rise. This is in the face of many dire predictions that the price of silver futures contracts will continue to decline. is not n the United States and the U.S. Mint eases supply. Bloomberg reports that;

"The premium charged by wholesale dealers for American Eagle coins from the U.S. Mint may rise to 17 percent from 14 percent yesterday, said Frank McGhee, the head dealer at Integrated Brokerage Services LLC in Chicago. The mint has said that weekly allocations will ease."

Ten reasons why gold bugs lost their shirts
Unlike most "Top 10 lists", this one that is worth reading and can be applied to many things, including investments other than gold.

India eases gold lending rules
While it continues to (unsuccessfully) try and prevent Indians from buying gold, the Indian authorities, in this case the Reserve Bank of India, has increased the amount that financial companies can lend in return for gold deposits.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch slashes gold call to $1,150 and warns it could get uglier
BoA seems to have wanted to get ahead of the curve in calling another bleak year for gold, down to $1,150 per ounce or lower. Silver fared worse in their forecast, with BoA Merril Lynch expected it to hit $18.38 an ounce.

Ever since the economic downturn of 2008, the Canadian government has been on an asset sale spree - getting rid of many foreign real estate holdings, art, investments and old gold coins. These were $5 and $10 gold coins that were minted in 1914 and removed from circulation almost immediately as the country began hoarding gold once World War I got underway. These were the first and last Canadian gold (circulation) coins and so quite collectible.

The pesky geese, which during this frigid North American winter are often associated with high priced (Canada Goose) jackets, also adorn the Royal Canadian Mint's first 2014 release of its "$20 for $20" silver coins. As implied by the name of the series, this coin has a face value of $20 and retails from the mint for that same price.


The coin features Canadian wildlife and nature artist Trevor Tennant's rendering of the Canadian goose on the reverse and the standard Susanna Blunt portrait of Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse. Like the previous ten coins in this series, this one is made from 99.99% silver and weighs 7.96 grams. RCM will mint 225,000 of these silver coins.