Eric Sprott: The Chinese Gold Vortex - Do Not Miss This Golden Opportunity GDX TNR.v MUX

  CS. Gold is building a very strong reversal pattern after resent correction. The only problem is that we are not the only one watching this chart closely and manipulators are trying to paint the breakdown on the chart above. In the normal market this picture will indicate very strong Bull market, building the base after The Golden Cross to make its Second Bull Leg Up. We have the close right above the MA200 at $1,300 and Bollinger Bands suggest that volatility will increase dramatically. Will "They" be able to break Gold down again? This is the question which will separate boys from the men again. The most important for us that this technical picture reflects the fundamentals Eric Sprott is talking about in his article. 

  Should Gold confirm this reversal by breaking Up above the MA50 at $1,317 Gold Junior Miners with the strong stories will finally start to move. This very illiquid and speculative type of investments in Gold equities normally start to participate in the stage two of the Gold Rally, when liquidity from professional players is searching for the new "ten-baggers" after booking the profits from the initial Gold Breakout. Every market is the function of the supply and demand, with Equities hitting all-times-highs and moving into the weak "Sell In May" season Gold Junior Miners have all chances to remind why they are considered to be so volatile. The way up normally is a very dramatic move in magnitude after such an obliteration as you can see on the chart below. The most important indicator here is the Volume - money is coming into the sector.

  Eric Sprott has made his billions in the markets like this one - when nobody wanted the Gold Equities, he is calling it again the opportunity of the lifetime. Will he be right again? Nobody knows. Can we succeed following our stories here - we will find out. But we like the good company for our journey and Eric is one of the best and we like strong companies like McEwen Mining with a few catalyses waiting to happen. Whether TNR Gold with Insiders holding more than 65% of the company will join the party will be known very soon as well. This group has stricken the major deals with top Lithium producer in China for its International Lithium and is waiting for Rob McEwen to make his magic with McEwen Mining projects and working on Los Azules Copper particularly. Nobody knows how soon Chinese will call here as well.

TNR Gold And McEwen Mining: Argentina's Caem Optimistic Over Pascua Lama Future TNR.v MUX ABX GDX

 Argentina slowly comes to its senses and welcomes mining business back these days. Argentinian government is negotiating with Chile the ways to bring development of  Pascua Lama back on track and China is already waiting for it, according to some rumours. Captains of the mining industry are allocating new investments in mining projects in Argentina and Yamana Gold has announced that it will focus on its  Cerro Moro Gold and Silver project in Argentina along with Canada Assets.

  Los Azules Copper is waiting for its hour to come into the industry spotlight and Pascua Lama development will do the trick. Both projects are located in the same San Juan province in Argentina. Shareholders of TNR Gold and McEwen Mining finally will be rewarded for their patience one day. And now this day is coming closer with every positive development in Argentina.

  

TNR Gold Shotgun Gold Presentation TNR.v GDX GLD MUX

  "TNR Gold has published its new Shotgun Gold presentation. After the news about Barrick Gold and Newmont Mining talks about the merger we are looking for the major bottom in the mining cycle. The best projects will find its way now to the investors' radar screens."

Gold M&A: Barrick Gold - Newmont Mining Merger Talks ABX MUX TNR.v NEM

 "As you remember, we were looking for M&A activity in Gold and Commodities to pick up in order to confirm the major Bottom built up last year. Now we have the very important confirmation about that bottom from the industry insiders. Announced deals with Las Bambas - being bought by Chinese companies and these talks about the merger between Barrick Gold and Newmont Mining signify the very important point in the cycle. It is cheaper "to dig" for Gold and Copper on the Exchange than in the ground. Depressed market valuations of the resources represented by the discounted share prices of miners provide the best entry points in the decades for the commodity markets. It is not only our talk any more  - it is the flash news from the top boardrooms in the mining business. It is the money talk by the Insiders. "Don't discount this merger talks in the future!"

TNR Gold Shotgun Gold Presentation, Alaska - April 2014 from Kirill Klip

SprottGlobal:

The Chinese Gold Vortex

By: Eric Sprott
After a long and agonizing winter which was attributed to the so-called “Polar Vortex”, we thought it would be appropriate to highlight for precious metal investors the implications of what we call the “Chinese Gold Vortex”. Over the past year, we have been very vocal about what we consider an aberration: the complete disconnect between gold supply and demand fundamentals and the actual price of the metal.
We have shown in February Markets at a Glance (MAAG) that, for all of 2013, demand from emerging markets, particularly China, was extremely strong, outstripping world mine supply by a fair amount. But this extreme tightness in the physical market was not reflected in gold prices. We have since then discussed many signs of manipulation in both the paper and physical gold markets (ETF flows, Indian intervention, LBMA fixings, to name a few).
This month’s Markets at a Glance presents an update on the demand dynamics in China, discussion around new evidence of manipulation and concludes with an illustrative example of the opportunity in gold equities.
Supply and Demand
While the year is still young, we have been able to gather a few data points from China and they are truly impressive. The table below shows Chinese net imports of gold for the first two months of 2014.¹ So on average, each month this year, China has imported about 204 tonnes of gold, up from about 143 tonnes last year.²

Chinese data is taken from the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department. Swiss data is taken from the Swiss Customs Administration, which started reporting gold exports to specific countries in 2014.
To put these numbers in perspective, for the full year 2013, total mine supply excluding China and Russia averaged 192 tonnes per month (see the February 2014 MAAG for details on the methodology).³ Basically, China is currently vacuuming, on a monthly basis, all of the world’s mine production plus an additional 10 tonnes. But that is only China; anecdotal evidence from other countries suggests that demand remains strong in other Emerging Markets, where Central Banks keep adding to their gold reserves. Moreover, whereas last year’s ETFs contributed (unsustainably) to supply, this year has so far seen net inflows into gold bullion ETFs.
What immediately comes to mind is: where does all this gold come from? As we have long argued, gold to Emerging Markets has been supplied by Western Central Banks for many years.⁴Recent data substantiates this claim. A closer look at Swiss import and export data shows that it imports most of its gold from the US and the UK and exports most of it to China and Hong Kong. For example, in the first two months of 2014, the UK has exported over 233 tonnes of gold to Switzerland; this is more than half of the Chinese net imports over the same period (remember the UK doesn’t produce any gold). Similarly, the US, which has a monthly gold production of about 19 tonnes, has exported, in the month of January alone 56 tonnes, most of which went either to Switzerland or to Hong Kong directly.⁵ So where does all this gold come from? It is supplied by Western Central Banks, which according to our analysis have very little gold left.
While it is still early, the Chinese Gold Vortex is firing on all cylinders and data so far this year suggests that demand will far outstrip supply.
Manipulation
The topic of gold price manipulation seems to be making its way into the mainstream. Regulators in Germany made the first foray into gold manipulation with their investigations of the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) now infamous Gold Fixing.⁶ Now, we hear that the CME Group (which owns the COMEX, where paper gold trades) has been sued by three traders for allegedly selling order information to HFTs ahead of the broader market.⁷
Simultaneously, academic studies have found evidence of manipulation in the gold market and a consultancy (Fideres) even claims that “global gold prices may have been manipulated 50% of the time between January 2010 and December 2013”.⁸
We have long suspected manipulation, but it is now clear to us that both the physical and paper bullion markets have been tampered with for quite some time, to the advantage of those that are naturally short gold (i.e. the bullion banks and other gold dealers). With the increasing amount of scrutiny from the public, academia, regulators and now lawyers, manipulators should have a progressively more difficult time preventing gold from reaching fair value.
The Opportunity
The stars are aligned in 2014 for a significant re-rating of the gold price. In our opinion, the best way to participate in a return of the gold price to fundamentals is to invest in junior gold miners. The tables below show EPS estimates under various gold price scenarios and the associated stock price targets, assuming a price-to-earnings ratio of 10x, for both a major (Barrick) and a junior (Crocodile) miner. From the table, it is obvious that junior gold miners have much more leverage to the price of gold.

Estimates are for FY2014. Price returns assume a P/E ratio of 10x. All figures in USD.
Source: Sprott Estimates and RBC Capital Markets
For illustrative purposes only, Eric Sprott and Sprott Asset Management Funds beneficially (directly or indirectly) may own in excess of 1% of one or more classes of the issued and outstanding securities of the above securities.
In summary, the tailwinds are twofold for gold: the Chinese Gold Vortex is putting an undeniable pressure on the physical market, while focus on price manipulation makes it progressively harder for price manipulators to operate. The reversal of this anomalous, yet explicable market dysfunction could provide astute investors with multi-hundred per cent returns.
Do not miss this Golden Opportunity!"

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Gold Has Completed The Golden Cross, Major Bullish Reversal Is Underway MUX TNR.v GLD GDX

  

  Gold has completed The Golden Cross and major Bullish Reversal is underway after this "FOMC week" correction. Now we should move much higher and Goldman Sachs with its call for Gold $1,050 by the end of the year is the very good contrarian indicator. 

  By the way, very interesting situation was happening today with McEwen Mining. Somebody from Goldman Sachs was all over the bids and MUX was traded with total volume of 20.7 million shares and Up 8%. (Update: Now with all after hours trades accounted the total volume between NYSE and Toronto stands at 30.8 million shares vs average volume of 3.5 million shares). That Somebody was caught Very Short after McEwen Mining run this year up to $3.74 and this "FOMC Week" That Somebody was "coincidentally happy" with MUX hitting low of $2.66 before very strong rebound and close at $2.88. Can we talk about manipulation again? One trade was particularly notable in the after hours: at 16.32 9.5 million shares were traded at $2.8804. Last month at the end of February  the total short position in MUX was reported at 25.5 million shares, so somebody used this week the opportunity to close at least part of it.  
  The upgrade from Cowen and Company has added to the fire: McEwen Mining Price Target increases to $4.57. One more reason for the huge volume spike was mentioned as the rebalancing in GDXJ - Junior Miners ETF. We will see in a week time the change in the short position in McEwen Mining to find out the real picture.
  Now we have the Volume Buy Signal in McEwen Mining and this rebalancing has coincided very nicely with the "FOMC Week" Gold sell off and shaking the weak hands out of the company stock. We will see what will happen next week and will monitor the Gold Golden Cross media talk this weekend.

  Small change games around TNR Gold could be ended in tears for the "players" as well very soon. The penny stock was sold into 3 cents on no volume again today. Next move in McEwen Mining and very strong announcements from International Lithium this week will change the picture very fast, TNR Gold holds 25.5% In International Lithium, shares of McEwen Mining and back-in right into Los Azules Copper project with McEwen Mining.

Eric Sprott - Gold To See Powerful Bullish "Golden Cross" Within Days TNR.v MUX GDX GDXJ GLD ABX NG

  C.S. Eric Sprott is talking about the "Golden Cross" - the very powerful bullish signal coming for Gold within the next few days. On the chart above you can see the very strong first move of the new Bull market in Gold from the December 2013 low. We are just 2% from 20% increase when media will start talking about the new Gold Bull market being "confirmed officially." As you can see MA 50 is turning decisively Up and is ready to cross MA200 to the upside.

  The very important driving forces behind this Gold rally is the record buying from China and the ongoing Gold Manipulation investigations. Eric thinks that all major bullion banks are at risk now and their compliance departments are very busy trying to manage the damage of potential litigation and fines. "The most important here that this process removes the manipulators out of the market. The ceiling is taking off from the Gold price now, they can not continue to manipulate Gold market as they did any more"

  You can listen to Eric on the link below and we will run a few charts showing what "Golden Cross" means for particular stocks.

Eric Sprott - Gold To See Powerful Bullish "Golden Cross" Within Days TNR.v MUX GDX GDXJ GLD ABX NG

  C.S. Eric Sprott is talking about the "Golden Cross" - the very powerful bullish signal coming for Gold within the next few days. On the chart above you can see the very strong first move of the new Bull market in Gold from the December 2013 low. We are just 2% from 20% increase when media will start talking about the new Gold Bull market being "confirmed officially." As you can see MA 50 is turning decisively Up and is ready to cross MA200 to the upside.

  The very important driving forces behind this Gold rally is the record buying from China and the ongoing Gold Manipulation investigations. Eric thinks that all major bullion banks are at risk now and their compliance departments are very busy trying to manage the damage of potential litigation and fines. "The most important here that this process removes the manipulators out of the market. The ceiling is taking off from the Gold price now, they can not continue to manipulate Gold market as they did any more"

  You can listen to Eric on the link below and we will run a few charts showing what "Golden Cross" means for particular stocks.

 We have discussed the "Golden Cross" for McEwen Mining a few weeks ago and you can see the performance of that company this year. The stock is in a clear breakout mode fuelled by the Gold breakout and the powerful short squeeze. We expect TNR Gold to join this party after the Gold "Golden Cross" will ignite mass media talk that the Gold Bull Is Back.

Massive Short Squeeze Drives McEwen Mining Higher On Solid Results MUX TNR.v GDX GDXJ GLD HUI

  "McEwen Mining has delivered solid results in 2013, updated its resource estimates at the San Jose mine in Argentina and Gold breakout now drives the stock higher on the massive short squeeze this week. According to NASDAQ, McEwen Mining Short Interest was at 25.5 million shares in the end of February. Solid operational results, higher Gold and Silver prices are making shorts very nervous these days. Catalyst will come with the news from Nevada exploration program, El Galo 2 development with higher Silver prices and any Los Azules copper development can change the situation for McEwen Mining and TNR Gold overnight."

McEwen still hopeful of attracting a buyer for Los Azules

McEwen Mining: Fourth Quarter and Year end Financial Results MUX TNR.v GDX GLD

Eric Sprott on Ukraine Russia War: Capital Controls, Bank Runs, Gold and Silver Forecast TNR.v MUX GLD GDX

  Eric Sprott discusses the Gold market manipulation and the set of evidence presented by a number of new reports on the subject. According to Eric, demand for Gold is exceeding available supply and it will power the Gold price much higher. China is buying record amounts of Gold and situation in Ukraine puts more strain on the global economy and its monetary system. Gold is the place you turn during the financial and political distress.

Koos Jansen: Chinese Physical Gold Demand YTD 369t Up 51 % Y/Y TNR.v MUX GDX GLD RGLD ABX

  "Koos Jansen continues his remarkable work reporting the real demand for Gold in China. According to his information this demand is on track for another record annualised so far and is up 51% on Y/Y basis. Geopolitical shift with the Ukraine situation will only add to this fire and ongoing Financial War will claim its victim US Dollar."

Currency Wars: The Yuan's Silent Scream - Portrait Of A Derivatives Bomb Being Detonated TNR.v MUX GDX GLD

"David Kranzler published a very interesting article confirming our discussion about the ongoing Financial War involving USA, Russia and China now. Bo Polny on the chart above presents his view about the implications of US Dollar crash below 80.00 level for the Gold market and you can find our thoughts on the links  below."

Dollar Crashed Below 80.00 What Is Next For Gold, Copper And Lithium? TNR.v MUX ILC.v GDX

"In a few words: they all are going much higher now. Let's discuss why we think it is going to be the case. What is coming next for stocks and commodities? The concept of Great Inflation in 2014 was first introduced here by Toby Connor article and so far the market was unfolding as he has predicted. The most important observation here is that not only we are seeing the first signs of increased money velocity and unfolding Inflation in the different Commodities Breakouts, but that FED is actively looking forward to create Inflation. Janet Yellen statements about desired level of Inflation were quite a revelation for the Central Banker to say the least. Never fight the FED and with the help of Russia and China US dollar will slide down even more and Inflation will be coming not only onto your grocery bills, where it was never gone, but even into the massaged government statistic reports."

Eric Sprott: The U.S. Gold Is Gone MUX, TNR.v, GDX, GLD, SLV, RGLD, ABX, GG

 

  We continue our investigation of the Gold Manipulation. Last Friday Gold spiked well above $1270 on the huge miss in Jobs Report, but markets have found the good meaning of bad news again and Gold was trading down to unchanged in the midday. Interestingly enough Gold has closed just below crucial $1270 by the end of the day even with general markets in the rally mood again. Eric Sprott addresses this ongoing manipulation in his interview and provides his outlook on the things to come in Gold and Silver markets.

Eric Sprott - The U.S. Gold Is Gone.

Huge Miss In Jobs Report: +113k Only - Sends Gold Sharply Higher TNR.v, MUX, GDX, GLD, SLV

 "Now let's listen to all excuses and polish the #taperpause on TWTR. Gold needs to close above $1270 to start the mother of short squeeze. Is this number bad enough to be "good" again to levitate the markets or we can move close to Thomas Demark 60% plunge of S&P 500? After everything what FED has done to 'save the economy" we can hardly see this as happening, expect the life support to be plugged in again."

There Is No German Gold Left At The New York FED GLD, MUX, TNR.v, GDX

There Is No German Gold Left At The New York FED GLD, MUX, TNR.v, GDX

  

  Die Welt has reported today the bombshell announcement for the Gold market. We have discussed before that only 37 t of Gold out of 674 t was delivered to Germany in 2013 and that the Gold bars were Melted. So not a single original German gold bar was returned to Germany so far! 

  ZeroHedge reports today that surprisingly only 5 t of gold has been delivered from the NY FED - the rest came from Paris. Now it is not the conspiracy theory any more that there is no German Gold left at the NY FED.

  Now all the manipulations in the Gold market and constant smashing down the price in 2013 are coming into another perspective. Germany is very serious about the investigation of the manipulations in the Gold market - it was already reported that precious metals manipulation is worse than LIBOR scandal.  This investigation has already claimed the first victim: Deutsche Bank to withdraw from Gold fix amid probe.
  With the highest on record leverage at COMEX of 112 owners for every single ounce of Gold and record low COMEX registered Gold at 11 t we have the set up for the major blow out phase in the Gold market. Who in their mind will continue to hold Gold at LBMA any more? According to Eric Sprott, we can expect a failure to deliver Gold and lawsuits with deliveries last February from COMEX of 40 t and China buying at least 100 t of Gold every month on average now.
  Once Gold will breach $1270 level Andrew Maguire's discussion about the massive short squeeze will become the reality and even if his predictions about $200 Up-days will not materialise, the move by Gold to the upside from the most oversold condition in history will be nothing less than spectacular.

Eric Sprott - Expect A Failure To Deliver Gold & Lawsuits.

Andrew Maguire: New Buyer To Create Massive Short Squeeze In Gold.

Glenn Beck: Where Is German Gold? GLD, TNR.v, MUX, GDX

"Glenn Beck is digging up the mystery of German Gold repatriation. With the reports that even small amount of the delivered Gold so far was melted beforehand we can be sure that there is no more original German Gold left. As we have discussed before, the Gold smashing down has started with Venezuela's request for Gold to be returned back and last year Gold's bloodbath was assured with Germany seeking for its Gold to be returned as well."

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts: If the Currency Collapses & You Try to Flee Into Gold, There Won't Be Any GLD, TNR.v, MUX, GDX

"Dr Paul Craigs Roberts talks about all markets being manipulated and presents the big picture of the Gold market and ongoing QE by the FED. Gold price action became the threat to the FED's policies and Gold was smashed down to preserve the status quo and save US Dollar. Markets can not be manipulated forever and now we have the situation when bullion goes to the East and to China particularly with the very dear geopolitical consequences. There is no recovery in U.S. economy and there is no Jobs creation - we would like to mention that this interview was recorded before yesterday disaster with Jobs numbers of only 74k being created and collapse in labour participation numbers."

ZeroHedge:

Germany Has Recovered A Paltry 5 Tons Of Gold From The NY Fed After One Year

On December 24, we posted an update on Germany's gold repatriation process: a yearafter the Bundesbank announced its stunning decision, driven by Zero Hedge revelations, to repatriate 674 tons of gold from the New York Fed and the French Central Bank, it had managed to transfer a paltry 37 tons. This amount represents just 5% of the stated target, and was well below the 84 tons that the Bundesbank would need to transport each year to collect the 674 tons ratably over the 8 year interval between 2013 and 2020. The release of these numbers promptly angered Germans, and led to the rise of numerous allegations that the reason why the transfer is taking so long is that the gold simply is not in the possession of the offshore custodians, having been leased, or worse, sold without any formal or informal announcement. However, what will certainly not help mute "conspiracy theorists" is today's update from today's edition of Die Welt, in which we learn that only a tiny 5 tons of gold were sent from the NY Fed. The rest came from Paris.

As Welt states, "Konnten die Amerikaner nicht mehr liefern, weil sie die bei der Federal Reserve of New York eingelagerten gut 1500 Tonnen längst verscherbelt haben?" Or, in English, did the US sell Germany's gold? Maybe. The official explanation was as follows: "The Bundesbank explained [the low amount of US gold] by saying that the transports from Paris are simpler and therefore were able to start quickly." Additionally, the Bundesbank had the "support" of the BIS "which has organized more gold shifts already for other central banks and has appropriate experience - only after months of preparation and safety could transports start with truck and plane." That would be the same BIS that in 2011 lent out a record 632 tons of gold...

Going back to the main explanation, we wonder: how exactly is a gold transport "simpler" because it originates in Paris and not in New York? Or does the NY Fed gold travel by car along the bottom of the Atlantic, and is French gold transported by a Vespa scooter out of the country?

Supposedly, there was another reason: "The bullion stored in Paris already has the elongated shape with beveled edges of the "London Good Delivery" standard. The bars in the basement of the Fed on the other hand have a previously common form. They will need to be remelted [to LGD standard]. And the capacity of smelters are just limited."

So... New York Fed-held gold is not London Good Delivery, and there is a bottleneck in remelting capacity? You don't say...

Furthermore, Welt goes on to "debunk" various "conspiracy websites" that the reason why the gold is being melted is not to cover up some shortage (and to scrap serial numbers), but that the gold is exactly the same gold as before. Finally, to silences all skeptics, the Bundesbank says that "there is no reason for complaint - the weight and purity of the gold bars were consistent with the books match." In conclusion, Welt reports that in 2014 "larger transport volumes" can be expected from New York: between 30 and 50 tons.

Here we would be remiss to not point out that the reason why the German people and the Bundesbank have every reason to be skeptical is that as Zero Hedge reported exclusively in November 2012, before the Buba's shocking repatriation announcement and was the reason for the escalation in lack of faith between central banks, it was the Fed and the Bank of England who in 1968 knowingly sent Germany "bad delivery" gold.  Which is why we have a feeling that the pace of gold transportation will certainly not accelerate until such time as the German people much more vocally demand an immediate transit of all their gold held at the New York Fed: after all, it's there right - surely the Bundesbank can be trusted to melt the gold (if any exists of course) into London Good Delivery or whatever format it wants.

Unless of course, the gold isn't there...

From November 9, 2012:

Bank Of England To The Fed: "No Indication Should, Of Course, Be Given To The Bundesbank..."

Over the past several years, the German people, for a variety of justified reasons, have expressed a pressing desire to have their central bank perform a test, verification, validation or any other assay, of the official German gold inventory, which at 3,395 tonnes is the second highest in the world, second only to the US. We have italicized the word official because this representation is merely on paper: the problem arises because no member of the general population, or even elected individuals, have been given access to observe this gold. The problem is exacerbated when one considers that a majority of the German gold is held offshore, primarily in the vaults of the New York Fed, and at the Bank of England - the two historic centers of central banking activity in the post World War 2 world.

Recently, the topic of German gold resurfaced following the disclosure that early on in the Eurozone creation process, the Bundesbank secretly withdrew two-thirds of its gold, or 940 tons, from London in 2000, leaving just 500 tons with the Bank of England. As we made it very clear, what was most odd about this event, is that the Bundesbank did something it had every right to do fully in the open: i.e., repatriate what belongs to it for any number of its own reasons - after all the German central bank is only accountable to its people (or so the myth goes), in deep secrecy. The question was why it opted for this stealthy transfer.

This immediately prompted rampant speculation within various media outlets, the most fanciful of which, of course, being that the Bundesbank never had any gold to begin with and has been masking the absence all along. The problem with such speculation is that, while it may be 100% correct and accurate, there has been not a shred of hard evidence to prove it. As a result, it is merely relegated to the echo chamber periphery of "serious media" whose inhabitants are already by and large convinced that all gold in the world is tungsten, lack of actual evidence to validate such a claim be damned (just like a chart of gold spiking or plunging is not evidence that a central bank signed the trade ticket, ordering said move), and in the process delegitimizing any fact-basedinvestigations that attempt to debunk, using hard evidence, the traditional central banker narrative that the gold is there and accounted for.

And hard evidence, or better yet a paper trail of inconsistencies, is absolutely paramount when juxtaposing the two most powerful forces of our times: i) the central banking-led status quo (which is de facto the banker-led oligarchy whose primary purpose in the past several centuries has been to accumulate as much as possible of the hard asset-based fruits of people's labor, who toil in exchange for "money" created out of thin air - a process which could be described as not quite voluntary slavery, but the phrase would certainly suffice), and ii) "everyone else", especially when "everyone else" still believes in the supremacy of democratic forces, accountability, and an impartial legal system (three pillars of modern society which over the past 4 years we have experienced time and again have been nothing but mirages). Because without hard evidence, not only is the case of the people against central bankers non-existent, even if conducted in a kangaroo court co-opted by the banker-controlled status quo, it becomes laughable with every iteration of progressively more unsubstantiated accusations against the central banking cartels.

Finally, when it comes to cold, hard facts, which expose central banks in misdeed, even the great central banks have to be silent silent, as otherwise the overt perversion of justice will blow up the mirage that modern society lives in a democratic, laws-based world will be torn upside down.

And while others engage in click-baiting using grotesque hypotheses of grandure without any actual investigation, reporting or error and proof-checking to build up hype and speculation, which promptly fizzles and in the process desensitizes the general public and those actually undecided and/or on the fences about what truly goes on behind the scenes, Zero Hedge travelled (metaphorically) in space - to London, or specifically the Bank of England Archives - and in time, to May 1968 to be precise.

While there we dug up a certain memo, coded C43/323 in the BOE archives, official title "GOLD AND FOREIGN EXCHANGE OFFICE FILE: FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF NEW YORK (FRBNY) - MISCELLANEOUS", dated May 31, 1968, written by a certain Mr. Robeson addressed to the BOE's Roy Bridge as well as its Chief Cashier, and whose ultimate recipient is Charles Coombs who at the time was the manager of the open market account at the Fed, responsible for Fed operations in the gold and FX markets.

This memo, more than any of the other spurious and speculative accusation about Buba's golden hoard, should disturb German citizens, and of course the Bundesbank (assuming it was not already aware of its contents), as the memo lays out, without any shadow of doubt, that the BOE and the Fed, effectively conspired to feed the Bundesbank due gold bars that were of substantially subpar quality on at least one occasion in the period during the Bretton-Woods semi-gold standard (which ended with Nixon in August 1971).

The facts:  

At least two central banks have conspired on at least one occasion to provide the Bundesbank with what both banks knew was "bad delivery" gold - the convertible reserve currency under the Bretton Woods system, or in other words, to defraud - amounting to 172 bars. The "bad delivery" occured even as official gold refiners had warned that the quality of gold emanating from the US Assay Office was consistently below standard, and which both the BOE and the Fed were aware of. Instead of addressing the issue of declining gold quality and purity, the banks merely covered up the refiners' complaints 

It is this that the Bundesbank, the German government, and the German people should be focusing on. If in the process this means completely ridiculing the Buba's "she doth protest too much" defense strategy that what is happening in the media is a "phantom debate" as per Andreas Dobret's recent words, so be it. In fact, one may be well advised to ignore anything Buba has said on this matter, because in attempting to hyperbolize the matter out of irrelevancy, the Buba is now cornered and will have no choice now but to explain just what the true gold content of the gold even in its possession is, let alone that which is allocated to the Buba account 50 feet below sea level, underneath the infamous building on Liberty 33.

Full May 1968 memo from the BOE to the NY Fed: highlights ours:

MR. BRIDGE

THE CHIEF CASHIER

U.S. Assay Office Gold Bars

1.  We have from time to time had occasion to draw the Americans’ attention of the poor standards of finish of U.S. Assay Office bars. In addition in 1961 we passed on to them comments from Johnson Matthey to the effect that spectrographic examination did not support the claimed assay on one bar they had so tested (although they would not by normal processes have challenged the assay) and that impurities in the bar included iron which caused some material to be retained on the sides of crucible after pouring.

2. Recently, Johnson Matthey have put 172 “bad delivery” U.S. Assay Office bars into good delivery form for account of the Deutsche Bundesbank. These bars formed part of recent shipments by the Federal Reserve Bank to provide gold in London in repayment of swaps with the Bundesbank. The out-turn of the re-melting showed a loss in fine ounces terms four times greater than the gross weight loss. Asked to comment Johnson Matthey have indicated verbally that:-

(a) the mixing of “melt” bars of differing assays in one “pot” could produce a result which might be a contributing factor to a heavier loss in fine weight but they did not think this would be substantial ;

(b) a variation of .0001 in assay between different assayers is an extremely common phenomenon;

(c) over a long period of years they had had experience of unsatisfactory U.S. assays

3. It is not, however, possible to say that the U.S. assays were at faultbecause Johnson Matthey did not test any of the individual bars before putting them into the pot.

4. The Federal Reserve Bank have informed the Bundesbank that adjustments for differences in weight and refining charges will be reimbursed by the U.S.Treasury.

5. No indication should, of course, be given to the Bundesbank, or any other central bank holder of U.S. bars, as to the refiner’s views on them. The peculiarity of the out-turn will be known to the Bundesbank: it has so far occasioned no comment.

6. We should draw the attention of the Federal to the discrepancy in this (and any similar subsequent such) result and add simply that the refiners have made no formal comment but have indicate that, although very small differences in assay are not uncommon, their experience with U.S. Assay Office bars has not been satisfactory.

7. We hold 3,909 U.S. Assay Office bars for H.M.T. in London (in addition to the New York holding of 8,630 bars). After the London gold market was reopened in 1954 we test assayed the bars of certain assayers to ensure that pre-war standards were being maintained. It might be premature to set up arrangements now for sample test assays of U.S. Assay Office bars but if it appeared likely that the present discontent of the refiners might crystalise into formal complain we should certainly need to do this.  In the meantime I would recommend no further action.

31st May 1968

P.W.R.R.

To summarize: Bank of England discovers discrepancies with US Assay Office gold bars, notifies the NY Fed that its gold bars have major "bad delivery" issues, but, and this is the punchline, on this occasion, we'll keep it quiet, because the Bundesbank got these bars. This is merely one documented assay occasion: one can imagine that of the hundreds of thousands of gold bars in official circulation, the "good delivery" quality of bars outside of the US, and perhaps BOE, official holdings has progressively declined over the decades of Bretton Woods. One can also only imagine what has happened to all those "good delivery" bars currently held by the Fed as custodian at the NY Fed. Literally:imagine. Because there is no way to check what the real gold consistency of these gold bars is, and whether the refiners found ongoing future inconsistencies with "good delivery" standards of bars handed off to other "non-core" central banks. And, yes, without further evidence the above is merely speculation.

As to the remaining relevant facts: the US ran out of good delivery gold in March 1968 and only had coin bars remaining. Which is why it closed the gold pool and went to a two-tier price system. The Bundesbank went on to cover some of the outstanding gold debts of the Fed to the gold pool. Subsequently, the US then did several deals with the BOC to get a substantial amount of gold to pay back the Bundesbank which was sent over to England from March until June 1968. One can, again, only speculate on the quality of said gold. The Fed then created unsettled accounts to account for these transfers between itself and the Buba.

In light of the above facts and evidence, one can see why the Buba is doing all in its power to avoid the spotlight being shone on the purity of its gold inventory: after all the last thing the German central banks would want is someone to go through the publicly available archived literature, to put two and two together, and figure out that it does not take one massive "rehypothecation" (see "to Corzine") event for German gold credibility to be impaired: all it takes is death from a thousand micro dilutions over the decades to get the same end result. Because chipping away one ounce here, one ounce there for years and years and years, ultimately adds up to a lot.

We eagerly look forward to the Buba's next iteration of self-defense. We can only hope that this one does not include a reference to a "phantom debate", to "East German terrorist Simon Gruber" or to Goldfinger, as it will merely further destroy any remaining credibility the Bundesbank may have left in this, or any other, matter."