Recent Gold and PGM news items.The Swiss National Bank has confirmed that it plans to sell an additional 100 tonnes of gold by the end of September, according to News24. The Bank is planning on selling the gold directly to the market, unlike its previous sales through the Bank for International Settlements. However, unlike the Bank of England, the Swiss Bank will not conduct an auction. The Swiss Bank began its sell-off of gold in May 2000, and has already sold approximately 220 tonnes of an estimated 1,300 tonne selling program. This latest announcement is merely a confirmation of earlier timetables, the only difference being that the Bank will sell directly to the market. (Friday, March 23, 2001)
The recently proposed merger of Australia's BHP Ltd. and UK diversified metals miner, Billiton Plc has caused many to speculate on the character and form of tomorrow's mining industry. If the merger goes through, many expect a wave of mergers to build to involve everything from Canadian nickel to South African gold. Out of all the metals, consolidation in the gold market seems the longest overdue. However, gold as an investment vehicle has many evils to battle. (Wednesday, March 21, 2001)
Russia's platinum industry has made international headlines again with one of the country's leading palladium producers accusing the government of insider trading, according to the Business Day newspaper. Sergei Aleksashenko, a senior executive of the Interros group and leading figure in Russia's precious metals industry, has reportedly accused Almazjuvelirexport, the precious metals trading agency, of insider dealings in platinum. He reportedly accused the agency of having a commercial interest in manipulating information, which should be open, in order to profit from precious metals transactions. The Russian government has been notoriously slow and secretive about the issuance of precious metals export quotas. (Friday, March 23, 2001
Russian alluvial platinum producer Koryakgeoldobycha is claiming that it has been granted platinum export quotas, according to Business Day. However, the timing and size of the exports are to remain official state secrets. Additional evidence that palladium export quotas may have been signed comes from Switzerland, Europe's major trading centre for PGEs. The Swiss government reported that it has imported 60,687 kg of palladium sponge from Russia so far during 2001, 59,481 kg during February alone, according to Dow Jones. The significant increase in the February figures may indicate that palladium quotas have been assigned. Earlier this month, unconfirmed reports indicated that President Putin had signed export quotas for 2001, although the government would not discuss the matter, citing state security concerns. (Thursday, March 22, 2001)
Looks like gold is set to stay where it is at for the forseeable future, thanks to the Swiss.They also have quite the control on PGM's. All items from Infomine.
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