By: Gene Arensberg

HOUSTON — As expected gold paused just after attempting a second assault at the big round number target with three zeros, US$1,000 this past week.   We could all feel a pullback or correction coming.Apparently sensing that the market for gold had moved too far or too fast, the very large commercial futures traders had strongly positioned for a gold correction as readers of this report know. They finally got a correction going this past week.

Gold had advanced a total of $326, or 47%, since its October panic lows near $681 in not all that much time. Indeed, the largest of the largest futures traders were evidently willing to take the short side of gold futures contracts aggressively as gold was crossing the $900 line of the gold futures battlefield as we reported in early February. As the yellow metal neared the $1,000 mark mid-month,

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US Mint Bullion Coin Sales

Adam Hamilton     February 13, 2009     3342 Words

 

Back in late 1985, the US Congress authorized the Gold Bullion Coin Act of 1985 which President Ronald Reagan promptly signed into law.  It ordered the US Treasury, through its US Mint branch, to start producing gold bullion coins.  This law outlined very specific requirements for these new coins, including that they be produced from gold mined in the United States.

 

This legislation, partially in response to the soaring popularity of foreign national coins like the famous South African Krugerrand in the early 1980s, ushered in the modern era of American bullion coins.  The American Gold Eagles and American Silver Eagles that emerged out of this program

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Private banks rethinking gold Sep 29 2008 12:15

http://www.fin24.com/articles/default/display_article.aspx?ArticleId=2401254

Kyoto - Private banks could be the next big buyers in the global gold market, helping drive prices higher as they consider restocking bullion bars that were sold off in calmer times, the top HSBC gold trader said on Monday.

Jeremy Charles, chairperson of the London Bullion Market Association and global head of precious metals trade at HSBC Bank, also said he expected central banks around the world to put the brakes on their plans to sell down gold reserves as they see other assets deteriorate, lending further support to prices.

“I think the institutional investors and private banks in particular will all be reconsidering their strategy. My belief is they are likely to want to own some gold again,” he said on the sidelines of the LBMA’s annual conference. The current generation of private

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More on Gold Backwardation

By James Turk

http://www.kitco.com/ind/Turk/turk_dec122008.html

Over the last few weeks, there have been a lot of articles on the Internet about backwardation, i.e., when the price of commodities for delivery today is higher than the price of commodities for delivery in the future. Like nearly all the things on the Internet, most of what was written is useful, but some of it is total rubbish, and it takes time to sort through to find the gems from the rest.  I offer the following in the hope that it clears up some of the confusion that has arisen about backwardation as well as to provide some insight into today’s gold market.

Backwardations are no big deal in most commodities, but they are indeed a very big deal for gold. Since I started following gold in the 1970s, I can recall seeing a gold backwardation against the US dollar only

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Elray Resources is an up and coming young company that is beginning to make its mark throughout the world. A technically driven gold and precious mineral exploration company, Elray is breaking ground with the Senator Project.

The Senator Project, also known as the Senator Mine Project, is an endeavor located in a mineral-rich region of Cambodia. Through the Senator Mine Project, Elray will have the ability to capitalize on the gold market.

The Senator Mine Project is a strong exploration target with the reported underground working, map reference by the French mapping and reporting of the 1970s and observed mineral and waste materials on the surface. The project has a reported 105 meters long adit following an average 1.5-meter wide multi-metallic massive sulfide vein with recoverable gold. The initial target appears to be a multi-metallic quartz vein system up to about a reportedly 1.5 meters width.

While the stock market has hit some

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THE PRICE OF SPOT GOLD bounced 1.6% from an overnight low of $860 on Wednesday, steadying at $876 an ounce as Western stock markets ticked higher despite a raft of miserable Eurozone data. Crude oil rose back above $100 per barrel, while long-dated government bonds continued to rise in price, pushing yields still further below the rate of inflation. The Dollar slipped from two-week highs on the currency markets. "European economic woes should sustain the greenback's safe-haven appeal today," believes Manqoba Madinane at Standard Bank in Johannesburg , "despite downside correction warnings from technical momentum indicators, and this could impact precious metals. "Several other warnings of downside risk for precious metals have emerged," he adds, noting that CDX investment grade credit spreads have narrowed, "indicating receding financial market system risk." Tuesday saw inter-bank lending rates leap yet again, however, with the cost of raising ...