BullionStar Blogs

Infographic: US Government and US Banks in the Gold Market

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• BullionStar
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Given shocking irregularities in the auditing of the US Gold Reserve, the successful prosecution of Wall Street banks for precious metals price manipulation, coupled with the multi-year gold price capping during COMEX New York trading hours, and the blatant interventions applauded by the Plunge Protection Team, it is clear to see that the US Government and Wall Street work hand in glove... Continue Reading

Why have all Chinese banks disappeared from the LBMA Gold Price auction?

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• Ronan Manly
• 7 Comments

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In a very strange development, which has gone practically unnoticed, all of the Chinese banks that were direct participants in the LBMA Gold Price auctions have recently disappeared.

The latest casualty is Bank of China, which bizarrely is said to have requested a self-suspension. Before that, ICBC and Bank of Communications disappeared.

With zero commentary from the... Continue Reading

JP Morgan Gold Traders go to Jail, while JP Morgan exits DoJ ‘Sin Bin’

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• Ronan Manly
• 4 Comments

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In recent weeks, a number of former JP Morgan traders have been sentenced to jail in the US for precious metals price manipulation.

At the same time, and less appreciated, is that JP Morgan (the bank) has now walked free of its 3 year ‘Sin Bin’ agreement with the US DoJ.

Who are the 10 JP Morgan traders mentioned in court documents? And why did LBMA not do ‘due... Continue Reading

First ever filming of Singapore’s Gold Reserves in Super-Secret Gold Vault

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• BullionStar
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After being the largest central bank gold buyer in Q1 2023, and one of the largest central bank buyers so far this year, Singapore’s central bank (MAS) is not resting on its laurels, and has made the news again, this time allowing a camera crew into its gold vault in Singapore.

This is the first time ever that the gold reserves of Singapore’s central bank have been filmed.... Continue Reading

Poland’s Central Bank ramps up Gold Purchases during July, and now holds 300 tonnes of Gold

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• Ronan Manly
• 2 Comments

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Poland’s central bank (NBP) now holds 300 tonnes of gold after entering the gold market for a fourth consecutive month during July, this time buying 22.4 tonnes of gold.

Between April and July, the NBP has now bought 71 tonnes of gold, and there’s more buying to come since the NBP wants to buy at least 100 tonnes of gold in total this year.

Over coming months,... Continue Reading

Poland’s 50/50 gold buying: 50 tonnes bought over 3 months, but another 50 tonnes to go

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• Ronan Manly
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Poland’s central bank (NBP) has been raising eyebrows after having purchased nearly 50 tonnes of gold over the three months between April and June.

But this is only half the story, as the NBP has a plan to accumulate 100 tonnes of gold this year. So expect further NBP gold buying during 2023.

Then the newly acquired gold is expected to be repatriated from London to... Continue Reading

Asahi vault 30 miles outside NYC added to COMEX approved vault list

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• Ronan Manly
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A new precious metals depository / vault has recently been added to the COMEX / NYMEX approved vault network in and around New York City. The depository is operated by Asahi Depository LLC, a subsidiary of Asahi Refining, Inc.

Asahi Refining runs precious metals refineries in Salt Lake City in Utah, and Brampton, Ontario, Canada, and now aims to expand into vaulting and... Continue Reading

BullionStar Financials FY 2022 – Year in Review

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• BullionStar
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This post reviews BullionStar’s financial performance for the financial year ending 30 June 2022, and milestones during that financial year. Continue Reading

Gold gains hugely in popularity among American Investors – Gallup Survey 2023

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• Ronan Manly
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The latest annual survey by Gallup which asks Americans which is the best long-term investment has found that a huge 26% of respondents opted for gold.

This is the highest result for gold in Gallup’s annual asset class ranking poll since 2012, and corroborates evidence from the World Gold Council and US Mint that the American retail public are piling into gold.

With... Continue Reading

Singapore – The World’s largest central bank gold buyer in Q1 2023

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• Ronan Manly
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Following a record year in 2022 for central bank gold buying, the gold buying by the world’s central banks in Q1 2023 is also the strongest first quarter on record.

Over the first quarter, the central bank of Singapore (MAS) has been out in front as the biggest gold buyer of Q1, adding an enormous 68.7 tonnes over the three month period January to... Continue Reading

Sound Money Legislation Rapidly Gaining Traction in Many US States

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• Ronan Manly
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All across the United States there are Sound Money initiatives progressing at the State level which are bringing back gold and silver to their rightful place as real money.

These initiatives span everything from abolishing State sales taxes on gold and silver, to making gold and silver legal tender in US States.

With the level of news flow in this area accelerating... Continue Reading

JP Morgan Gold Traders Contempt for the Law, Plan to Appeal their Convictions

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• Ronan Manly
• 1 Comments

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In 2022, when J.P. Morgan’s top gold traders (Nowak, Smith and Jordan) were unanimously convicted in federal criminal trials on multiple counts of manipulating COMEX precious metals futures prices, many thought that justice had been served.

But like the walking dead in a bad zombie movie, J.P. Morgan’s gold traders keep coming back, and are now set to appeal their... Continue Reading

BullionStar: Buy and Store Gold & Silver Bullion Bars & Coins in the United States

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• BullionStar
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BullionStar has now launched in the US and is offering customers one year of storage free in our secure precious metals vault in Texas.

With a BullionStar account, you have full 24/7 control over your vaulted bullion, you can buy and sell gold and silver bars and coins for storage, sell or withdraw your stored bullion, audit your stored bullion and much more.

Texas... Continue Reading

Singapore’s central bank MAS boosts gold reserves to nearly 200 tonnes

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• Ronan Manly
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In a low-key announcement, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), has revealed that in January 2023, Singapore’s central bank bought a massive 44.6 tonnes of gold, boosting its gold reserves to 198.4 tonnes.

This is the largest central bank gold purchase of any country so far this year, but surprisingly, the news has received nearly zero coverage in the mainstream... Continue Reading

American Gold Eagles – The Most Popular Gold Bullion Coin in the United States

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• BullionStar
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The US Mint’s American Gold Eagle bullion coin is the most popular gold coin in the United States and is instantly recognizable around the world.

Since its launch in 1986, nearly 47 million bullion Gold Eagles have been minted across the coin’s four sizes, containing a massive 26.8 million troy ounces of gold. That’s 830 tonnes of gold held in Gold Eagle coins! This makes... Continue Reading

Buy Gold & Silver Bars and Coins with BullionStar in the United States

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• BullionStar
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As one of the world’s most innovative bullion dealers, BullionStar is proud to announce that we have now launched in the United States with a dedicated US operation, and a new US website BullionStar.us.

At BullionStar.us, you can now buy physical precious metals coins and bars for free delivery across the United States, or for 1-year FREE vault storage in our secure precious... Continue Reading

Successful Newcrest bid would extend US Newmont’s lead as world’s largest gold producer

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• Ronan Manly
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US gold mining giant Newmont Corporation, headquartered in Denver, Colorado, is already the world’s largest gold producer, but now wants to grow even bigger having launched a takeover bid for Australia’s Newcrest Mining.

A combined Newmont-Newcrest would produce 8 million ounces of gold per year, twice that of nearest rival Barrick Gold of Canada.

This is the... Continue Reading

Nine years after fleeing in panic, the infamous Deutsche Bank is returning to the LBMA

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• Ronan Manly
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Scandal ridden Deutsche Bank is preparing a comeback to the London precious metals markets with news that it is rejoining the LBMA and wants a seat at the daily gold and silver auctions.

However, it should not be forgotten that in 2014 this same Deutsche Bank panicked and fled the LBMA and London gold and silver markets precisely because regulators were investigating... Continue Reading

Chinese Central Bank kicks off New Round of Gold Accumulation

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• Ronan Manly
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China’s central bank (PBoC) has started to publish monthly gold ‘purchases’ again, claiming to have added 32 tonnes of gold in November and another 30 tonnes in December.

Similar to the last periods in which China ‘added’ to its gold reserves over both 2018 - 2019 and 2015 - 2016, this new round of monthly gold revelations is being done for strategic reasons, and will... Continue Reading

Has GLD been failing to disclose gold held at the Bank of England during 2022?

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• Ronan Manly
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The SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) has on occasion held large quantities of gold in the vaults of its subcustodian, the Bank of England. We know this because it’s been stated in GLD quarterly and annual filings submitted to the SEC. Indeed, the SEC compels the GLD to reveal these facts about GLD subcustodians in its filings.

Why then did the GLD Sponsor (a subsidiary of the World Gold... Continue Reading

FTX Fiasco Highlights the Ponzi Nature of Modern Banking and the London Gold Market

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• Ronan Manly
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The collapse of crypto exchange FTX and sister trading firm Alameda has sent shockwaves through the crypto sector and wider financial markets. Customers wiped out and billions of dollars missing, in a scheme that was run as a fractional reserve scheme.

With Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings now in motion, the truth of what exactly happened with FTX, to the extent that it’s... Continue Reading

Gold Establishment Supports Central Bank Secrecy instead of Exposing it

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• Ronan Manly
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When the World Gold Council released a report this week claiming central bank gold demand in Q3 was at a record high of 400 tonnes, the data was very odd in that more than three quarters of the claimed demand figure was an ‘estimate’.

This estimate was from Metals Focus and is based on ‘confidential information’ so cannot be verified. Despite this, the mainstream... Continue Reading

COMEX Deliverable Silver far less than imagined as 50% of ‘Eligible’ is not Available

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• Ronan Manly
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With the global demand for physical silver firing on all cylinders, and with silver inventories being rapidly drained out of LBMA and COMEX vaults in London and New York, the silver supply problem is actually bigger than most people realise.

Why? Because at least 50% of COMEX Eligible silver is held as a long term investment, and is not part of Deliverable silver supply. And... Continue Reading

Qatar ramps up its Gold Reserves as FIFA World Cup approaches

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• Ronan Manly
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As the world’s media begin to descend on Qatar in advance of this year’s FIFA World Cup, it's interesting to note that the Qatar Central Bank (QCB) has been a major gold buyer for much of 2022.

Having bought gold for five consecutive months between April and August, Qatar’s central bank now holds 77 tonnes of gold, and has increased its gold holdings by sixfold over the... Continue Reading

London Silver Inventories Continue to Plummet as Metal Exits LBMA Vaults

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• Ronan Manly
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Global demand for physical silver is causing unprecedented outflows of silver from the LBMA London vaults.

These London vaults have seen a net outflow of 254.5 million ozs (7915 tonnes) over the last 9 months and London silver holdings are now at an all time low of 28,500 tonnes, of which 18,500 tonnes is silver held by ETFs.

With silver demand firing on all cylinders... Continue Reading

Eurasian alliance plans a Moscow World Standard to destroy LBMA’s monopoly in precious metals pricing

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• Ronan Manly
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A new precious metals pricing infrastructure may be about to be launched by the Eurasian Economic Union. Led by Russia, this regional alliance is proposing a Moscow World Standard to confront the status quo monopoly of the LBMA.

Masterminded by one of Russia’s leading economists, Sergei Glazyev, this new infrastructure, if it launches, could pull in members from both the... Continue Reading

JP Morgan gold trading boss & former LBMA Board member found guilty by US jury

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• Ronan Manly
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The head of JP Morgan’s precious metals trading desk, Michael Nowak, and gold trader Gregg Smith, have been found guilty by a US federal jury of attempted price manipulation, commodities fraud, wire fraud, and spoofing precious metals prices over an 8 year period.

Nowak was also a Board member of the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) up until his indictment by the... Continue Reading

The new Indian International Bullion Exchange (IIBX) – Price Taker or Price Maker?

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• Ronan Manly
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A new gold exchange called the Indian International Bullion Exchange (IIBX) has just been launched in GIFT City, Gujarat, India.

IIBX offers spot gold contracts backed by vaulted bullion, and trading will allow Indian jewellery companies to import gold via the Exchange.

But will IIBX help India become a gold ‘price setter’, or will one of the world’s largest... Continue Reading

LBMA Silver Inventories fall to a near 6 Year Low below 1 billion ounces

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• Ronan Manly
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Physical silver inventories in the LBMA vaults in London have fallen for seven straight months and are now at their lowest levels since December 2016. Additionally, this is the first time since November 2016 that LBMA silver inventories have fallen below 1 billion ozs.

With ETFs in London accounting for nearly 65% of all LBMA silver holdings, and given the deficit in the... Continue Reading

Despite manipulating precious metals prices, JP Morgan is still at the heart of the LBMA, SBMA and COMEX

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• Ronan Manly
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The current US trial of a group of former JP Morgan precious metals traders for price manipulation across New York, London and Singapore is but the latest installment in a saga that that has seen JP Morgan pay out US$ 920 million while admitting criminal wrongdoing.

However, that has not stopped the LBMA, SBMA and the COMEX from not only continuing to allow JP Morgan to operate... Continue Reading

Peter Hambro – BIS, central banks are rigging gold market using bullion banks’ paper gold

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• Ronan Manly
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In a new article for British news and current affairs site Reaction, legendary gold sector executive Peter Hambro pulls no punches in claiming that the BIS and central banks are rigging the gold price.

They are doing so, says Hambro, to hide the perception of inflation, and are implementing the smashing of the physical gold price using the limitless ‘paper gold’... Continue Reading

Russia lines up its State Fund of Precious Metals for Military Mobilization

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• Ronan Manly
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As conflicts intensify between Russia and the West, gold continues to be at the forefront of geo-politics.

As Russia prepares its State Fund of Precious Metals to be able to rapidly trade gold in the event of a military mobilization, the EU is talking of a new round of Russian sanctions that will target gold.

New Russian laws may soon also classify the size of... Continue Reading

Czech Republic to join Visegrád Group allies in Central European Gold Rush

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• Ronan Manly
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The incoming governor of the Czech central bank plans to increase the Czech Republic’s monetary gold reserves massively from 11 tonnes to over 100 tonnes. That's a 10-fold increase.

This follows huge gold buying over the last few years from the Polish and Hungarian central banks. What’s the connection? All 3 countries are members of the Visegrád Group, a tight economic and... Continue Reading

Inside the Gold Vault of the Portuguese Central Bank

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• Ronan Manly
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For the first time ever the central Bank of Portugal has allowed reporters to take photos of the gold bars in its vault in Carregado, just outside Lisbon. And the photos are impressive enough.

Apart from the 172 tonnes of gold claimed to be in this vault, the Portuguese claim to hold even more gold at the Bank of England. The trouble is, all of the Portuguese gold in London is... Continue Reading

Lack of audits undermine Lebanon’s claim to be Middle East gold heavyweight

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• Ronan Manly
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While Lebanon’s central bank claims to hold the region’s second largest monetary gold reserves, the truth is far murkier. In 2019, external auditors were prevented from even viewing the gold that is supposedly stored in the Bank’s vaults in Beirut.

In addition, a large part of Lebanon’s gold is believed to have been long ago entrusted to the vaults of the New York... Continue Reading

Kremlin confirms intention to Back Ruble with Gold and Commodities

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• Ronan Manly
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Nikolay Patrushev, a powerful Kremlin player, has now confirmed that Moscow is actively working to back the Russian ruble with gold and commodities, and so create a currency with intrinsic value outside the orbit of the US dollar.

Western sanctions, says Patrushev, are also accelerating Russia’s plans to embrace Asian, African and Latin American markets via groupings such as... Continue Reading

Where is the Russian Federation’s Gold Stored?

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• Ronan Manly
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With weaponised sanctions targeting Russia’s foreign exchange reserves, the monetary gold reserves of the Bank of Russia have now taken on increased importance.

But where are these vast Russian gold reserves stored, a hoard which the Russian central bank claims to be 2299 tonnes? The popular belief is that ‘two thirds’ of this gold is stored in a vault in Moscow, and... Continue Reading

China and Russia in Close Cooperation aiming for Win-Win in Gold Markets

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• Ronan Manly
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Laying potential foundations for a Chinese - Russian cooperative system utilizing gold, the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) and Russia’s National Financial Association are now actively collaborating to develop the Chinese and Russian gold markets.

Central to the cooperation on the Russian side is the National Financial Association’s precious metals market committee, which... Continue Reading

Spotlight on Gold and Silver Mining Share Indexes – Part 1

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• Ronan Manly
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While old timers may be familiar with the XAU and HUI indexes, do you know about the gold and silver mining stock indexes underlying GDX and GDXJ, or the gold and silver indexes from providers such as Solactive and MVIS?

With renewed interest in commodities and hard assets, now is a good time to brush up on how to get exposure to the precious metals mining sector. This is part... Continue Reading

Russian Ruble relaunched linked to Gold and Commodities – RT.com Q and A

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• Ronan Manly
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Russia’s move to link the ruble to gold and link commodity payments to the ruble is a paradigm shift which the western media has not yet really grasped.

By playing both sides of the equation, i.e. linking the ruble to gold and then linking energy payments to the ruble, the Bank of Russia and the Kremlin are fundamentally altering the entire working assumptions of the global... Continue Reading

Russian Palladium and Platinum – Too Important to Sanction

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• Ronan Manly
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In a clear case of double standards, the management committee of the London Platinum and Palladium Market (LPPM), which is controlled by a group of bullion banks and refiners, has chosen not to suspend Russian refineries Krastsvetmet and Prioksky from the LPPM Good Delivery Lists for palladium and platinum.

This is despite the LPPM's sister organisation, the LBMA, having moved... Continue Reading

BullionStar – Important Update 11 March 2022

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• BullionStar
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Amid heightened geo-political and financial market risk, BullionStar is currently seeing extremely high demand for its precious metals products and limited availability in some bullion products.

Our average order size in March has increased by 343% so far compared to February, and we are seeing a larger percentage of orders originating from international customers.... Continue Reading

US tees up “Stop Russian Gold Act”, triggering LBMA and COMEX to eject Russian refiners

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• Ronan Manly
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On 7 March, in a coordinated fashion, the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) and COMEX both simultaneous suspended all Russian gold refiners at exactly the same time as a Bill was introduced into the US Senate targeting the central bank of Russia’s gold reserves.

In essence, a war has now been declared by the West against Russian gold. These moves will have far reaching... Continue Reading

LBMA’s Fear of Stoking the Russian Bear – From ETF Concerns to Monetary Mayhem

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• Ronan Manly
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Despite evidence that the LBMA accredited Russian refineries are in breach of UK-US-EU sanctions and the LBMA’s own rules, the LBMA is stalling in taking any action.

Is this due to the massive number of Russian refinery gold and silver bars held by the world’s largest precious metals ETFs in London, or is the LBMA terrified of unleashing a Russian flight to gold for world... Continue Reading

LBMA a deer in headlights as Western Sanctions show up Russian Gold Refiners

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• Ronan Manly
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As a raft of new sanctions from the US, EU and UK come out targeting Russia's financial system and banks, the LBMA has quietly removed the fact that Russian banks VTB and Bank Otkritie are LBMA members.

At the same time, the LBMA has said nothing about the large group of Russian refiners on the current LBMA Good Delivery Lists for gold and silver.

With the Western... Continue Reading

BullionStar Financials FY 2021 – Year in Review

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• BullionStar
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This post reviews BullionStar’s financial performance for the financial year ending 30 June 2021, and milestones during that financial year. Continue Reading

Bloomberg hit piece on UAE gold triggers strong response from DMCC’s Bin Sulayem

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• Ronan Manly
• 8 Comments

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In the continuing international gold power play between Dubai / UAE on one hand and the establishment / London gold markets on the other, the latest installment sees a hit piece by Bloomberg against Dubai, with an equally strong response from DMCC’s chairman Ahmed Bin Sulayem.

While the battle arena this time is smuggled gold from Africa, the axis of Western government - big... Continue Reading

Emirates takes on LBMA with launch of UAE Good Delivery Standard for gold

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• Ronan Manly
• 7 Comments

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In a bid to boost its gold trading hub, the United Arab Emirates has taken the proactive step of launching an Emirates Good Delivery Standard for gold.

This initiative, while also deflecting criticism from the London-Swiss gold establishment, also puts UAE and Dubai into direct competition with the LBMA.

But will the “the consistent and unsubstantiated attacks”... Continue Reading

Coordinated Jawboning from Central Banks, but “You Can’t Taper a Ponzi”

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• Ronan Manly
• 7 Comments

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This week sees an unusual alignment of central bank meetings, with the ‘Big Gun’ central banks of the US Fed, ECB, Bank of England and Bank of Japan all holding internal meeting to discuss interest rate moves and the tapering of asset buying programs.

But since central banks have painted themselves into corners with unprecedented asset purchases and historically low... Continue Reading

Irish central bank raises gold reserves by 33%, worried by inflation

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• Ronan Manly
• 4 Comments

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The Central Bank of Ireland has quietly purchased 2 tonnes of gold, boosting its gold holdings by 33%.

While in absolute terms, this may not seem like a lot, the fact that it’s a Eurozone Western economy doing the gold buying is notable.

And with the Irish central bank governor now warning that the inflation coming down the pipe may be ‘something different’, the... Continue Reading