Gold News

Exactly six months ago, the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) began weekly publication of rolled up trade volume data for the London and Zurich gold and silver markets in an exercise that was spun by the LBMA as increasing transparency in the global over-the-counter precious metals markets.

Misleadingly referred to as ‘Trade Reporting’, the data published by the LBMA was nothing of the sort and merely consisted of high level anonymized and aggregated trade activity volume data across a number of trade types and date increments, which was all rolled up and averaged to give a weekly trade volume number for each of gold and silver.

First of all, let me say that gold price suppression (“fixing,” “rigging,” “manipulating” or however else you want to think about it) is not just a conspiracy theory.

It’s a well-documented phenomenon, with real actors and real ramifications.

In 2014, Barclays was fined nearly $44 million for failing to prevent traders from manipulating the London gold “fix.” Late last year, a former JPMorgan trader pleaded guilty to manipulating the U.S. metals markets.

“Northern lights have inspired many legends around the world. For the Inuit, they’ve long carried an air of spiritual significance, representing souls of ancestors. To construct a mine in the arctic you need innovation, resiliency and a lot of teamwork, but most importantly you develop an immense appreciation and respect for the people that have lived in this area for thousands of years. In this picture, the Meadowbank mine is seen under the northern lights, as if the souls of Inuit ancestors were keeping a close watch over the well being of the hundreds of Inuit that work there.”

The mining industry is embracing transformation and reimagining the possible, powered by a dynamic workforce, new technologies and diverse ideas.

No sooner had we covered the battle of high frequency traders physically moving infrastructure and microwave towers to gain nanosecond advantages, that we learned that Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) has planned on launching the first ever “speed bump” for the US futures market that would negate some of these advantages. Despite two of the CFTC’s five commissioners disagreeing with the decision, the exchange still looks set to impose a split second delay on some trades, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Australian gold producer St. Barbara (ASX: SBM) is buying smaller Canadian rival Atlantic Gold Corp (TSX-V: AGB) for C$722 million ($536 million), in the last of several mergers and acquisitions targeting mostly the gold sector taking place this year.

The Melbourne-based miner offered C$2.90 a share for Vancouver-based Atlantic Gold, a 39% premium to Tuesday’s close, and will fund the deal from cash reserves and by raising about A$490 million ($340 million) in a share sale to existing holders.

Net gold purchases in Q1/2019 among foreign governments and central banks was nearly 70% greater than Q1/2018… and the highest rate of first quarter purchases in six years.

An Australian family have literally struck gold after finding a valuable gold nugget during a Mother’s Day outing.

While the investment market has evolved over the decades and dozens of new instruments of have been introduced, gold, however, perhaps remains the preferred one.

Europeans in the 10th and 11th centuries purified their gold through cupellation, a process in which lead is mixed with gold laced with impurities, and then heated in a furnace until the droplets of purer gold can be skimmed off.