BullionStar Blogs

Mexico’s Earmarked Gold Bars at the Bank of England vaults

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• Ronan Manly
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In response to a Freedom of Information Request by Mexican financial writer Guillermo Barba, Mexico’s central bank Banixco, has just a released a quite comprehensive list of 7265 gold bars that it holds in the Bank of England’s gold vaults. This is unusual in that very few central banks ever allow publication of such a list. While the Banixco list does not include real serial... Continue Reading

More Bad News for the LBMA Silver Price, but an Opportunity for Overhaul

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• Ronan Manly
• 6 Comments

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News that Thomson Reuters and the CME intend to abandon ship as administrator and calculation agent of the LBMA Silver Price auction has raised more than a few eyebrows, especially since they appear to be linking the exit to the introduction of new European Benchmark Regulations. Whatever the reason for their departure mid-way through their service provision contract, it now provides a... Continue Reading

Germany’s Gold remains a Mystery as Mainstream Media cheer leads

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• Ronan Manly
• 3 Comments

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The Deutsche Bundesbank’s announcement in early February that it had moved 300 tonnes of gold from the New York Fed to Frankfurt in a laughable 4 years threw the mainstream financial media into a back-slapping frenzy as they rushed to congratulate the German central bank for an exercise that should have only taken a couple of weeks to complete. Back in 1967 and 1968, the very same NY... Continue Reading

Gold Market Charts – February 2017

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• Gold Market Charts
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This is the 4th in a series of new posts from BullionStar showcasing a selection of gold market charts from Nick Laird’s extensive GoldChartsRUs website. The selected charts focus on major themes from the world's largest gold markets such as Swiss and UK gold imports and exports, CHINDIA gold demand (Chinese gold demand and Indian gold imports) and Russian Federation central bank gold... Continue Reading

US Mint Releases New Fort Knox “Audit Documentation”. The First Critical Observations.

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• Koos Jansen

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In response to my FOIA request the US Mint has finally released reports related to the physical audits of the US official gold reserves drafted from 1993 through 2008. However the documents released are incomplete and reveal the audit procedures have not been executed proficiently. Moreover, because the Mint could not honor its promises in full the costs ($3,144.96 US dollars) of the... Continue Reading

Infographic: Bullion Banking Mechanics

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• BullionStar
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Bullion banking is a commonly used term, but what does it refer to? And who are these bullion banks? This new infographic from BullionStar guides you through the shadowy world of bullion banking centred in the City of London, and looks at the paper gold creation process, how the banks use unallocated gold accounts to allow the trading of gigantic amounts of fictitious gold, and how the... Continue Reading

A Chink of Light into London’s Gold Vaults?

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• Ronan Manly
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A chink of light may be about to shine on the gold bars held in the London Gold Market vaults. Both the Bank of England and London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) have announced that relatively soon, they will begin to publish data on the quantity of gold physically held in the series of vaults that make up the London gold vaulting network. More data than less is always welcome,... Continue Reading

China Net Imported 1,300t Of Gold In 2016

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• Koos Jansen

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For 2016 international merchandise trade statistics point out China has net imported roughly 1,300 tonnes of gold, down 17 % from 2015. The importance of measuring gold imports into the Chinese domestic gold market - which are prohibited from being back exported – is to come to the best understanding on the division of above ground reserves in and outside of the Chinese domestic... Continue Reading

Lukewarm start for new London Gold Futures Contracts

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• Ronan Manly
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In late 2016, three financial exchange providers each announced in rapid succession the launch of a London based gold futures contract. These providers are the London Metal Exchange (LME), Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), and the CME Group. ICE and CME gold futures contracts have gone live in the last 2 weeks, but neither has seen a single trade. LME plans to launch its gold futures... Continue Reading

Ireland’s Monetary Gold Reserves: High Level Secrecy vs. Freedom of Information – Part 2

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• Ronan Manly
• 5 Comments

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This article, the second in a series, looks at the difficulty experience in obtaining basic information out of the Central Bank of Ireland about Ireland's monetary gold reserves, even while using a Freedom of Information request. The Request was refused, and then on appeal partially actioned. However, throughout the process there was a feeling that the Central Bank was not divulging the... Continue Reading

Gold Market Charts – January 2017

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• Gold Market Charts
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This is the 3rd in a series of new posts from BullionStar that showcase a selection of gold market charts from Nick Laird’s extensive GoldChartsRUs website. The selected charts focus on major themes from the world's largest gold markets such as Chinese gold demand, Indian gold imports, Russian central bank gold holdings, and Swiss gold imports and exports. Each month these BullionStar... Continue Reading

Why SGE Withdrawals Equal Chinese Gold Demand And Why Not

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• Koos Jansen

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This post is part of the Chinese Gold Market Essentials series. Click here to go to an overview of all Chinese Gold Market Essentials for a comprehensive understanding of the largest physical gold market globally. This post was updated in 2017. The difference between SGE withdrawals and Chinese consumer gold demand as disclosed by GFMS has aggregated to … Continue Reading

Ireland's Monetary Gold Reserves - High Level Secrecy vs FOI

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• Ronan Manly
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Obtaining basic details about central bank gold holdings is a subject which without exception the mainstream financial media never appears to broach. However, various independent researchers have documented attempts at obtaining such details of sovereign / central bank gold holdings. This article (Part 1) and its sequel (Part 2) add to the documented evidence by summarising how a series... Continue Reading

Who Owns the World’s Largest Gold Hoards? – Not the Central Banks!

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• Ronan Manly
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Given that central banks are extremely secretive about 'their' gold reserves, it's important to note that the majority of these central banks do not even own the gold that they go to great lengths to hide the details of. In most cases, the sovereign states which the central banks answer to own the gold. Taken to its logical conclusion, the citizens of the sovereign states own the gold,... Continue Reading

How The West Has Been Selling Gold Into A Black Hole

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• Koos Jansen

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Western gold sell-offs are transhipped to China but can't return. This will make gold rally stronger in a future bull market than it did in previous bull markets. Continue Reading

Infographic: Gold ETF Mechanics

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• BullionStar
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Gold-backed Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are a product class that has grown rapidly in recent years. The financial media regularly reports on the gold holdings within these products, and the customer bases of these ETFs include both institutional and retail investors. But what exactly are the mechanics of these products, what do they provide and not provide to their holders, and what... Continue Reading

The Chinese Gold Lease Market And Chinese Commodity Financing Deals Explained

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• Koos Jansen

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This post is part of the Chinese Gold Market Essentials series. Click here to go to an overview of all Chinese Gold Market Essentials for a comprehensive understanding of the largest physical gold market globally. This post was updated late 2017. The main arguments presented by Western consultancy firms, such as GFMS and the World Gold Council … Continue Reading

Gold Market Charts – December 2016

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• Gold Market Charts
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This is the 2nd in a series of new posts from BullionStar which feature a selection of gold charts from the excellent Gold Charts R Us website. The charts reviewed are chosen so as to capture some of the most important macro trends in the global gold market such as Chinese and Indian gold demand, Russian central bank gold reserve accumulation, flows of gold in and out of the giant Swiss... Continue Reading

China’s Gold Market Opens Up To Boost RMB Internationalization

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• Koos Jansen

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Last week the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) launched a new English website to offer international customers more tools on trading gold in renminbi through the Shanghai International Gold Exchange (SGEI). BullionStar took the opportunity to translate a speech by a Teng Wei, Deputy General Manager of the SGEI, named “How China’s Gold Market Can Help The RMB Achieve International... Continue Reading

COMEX and ICE New York Gold Vault Reports both Overstate Eligible gold Inventories

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• Ronan Manly
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Gold futures trade in New York on both the COMEX & ICE exchanges. Both exchanges also utilize the same network of approved gold vault facilities located in and around New York City. However, neither the ICE vault report nor the COMEX vault report takes account of the other Exchange's registered gold. Therefore both reports overstate the true amount of eligible gold in each of the... Continue Reading

NOVEMBER: Gold Price Down, Chinese Demand Strong Despite Import Curbs

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• Koos Jansen

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From the moment Donald J. Trump got elected as the next President of the United States, on November 8, 2016, the price of gold tumbled 8 % in the remainder of the month – from $1,282 USD/oz to $1,178 USD/oz. Usually these cascades in the gold price go hand in hand with physical sell-offs in the West … Continue Reading

Guest Post: How to Trigger a Silver Avalanche by a Pebble: "Smash(ed) it Good"

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• Ronan Manly
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UBS and other precious metals traders on how to wreak havoc in silver markets Written by Allan Flynn, specialist researcher in aspects of gold and silver. “An avalanche can be triggered by a pebble if you get the timing right" Earlier this year at April’s hearings for London Silver and Gold Fix lawsuits, the judge and … Continue Reading

Gold In London & Hong Kong Is Used To Settle COMEX Futures

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• Koos Jansen

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Physical gold located in Hong Kong and London is used to settle COMEX gold futures contracts through “Exchange For Physical” trading in the over-the-counter market. This post is a sequel to Understanding GOFO And The Gold Wholesale Market and COMEX Gold Futures Can Be Settled Directly With Eligible Inventory – in which Exchange For Physical … Continue Reading

Debunking GFMS’ Gold Demand Statistics

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• Koos Jansen

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What came to light as on odd discrepancy between GFMS’ Chinese gold demand and “apparent supply" has proven to be a tenacious cover-up by the oldest consultancy firm in the gold market. And not only does GFMS publish incomplete and misleading data on Chinese gold demand, all its supply and demand data is incomplete and misleading. … Continue Reading

The Value-added Tax System In China’s Domestic Gold Market

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• Koos Jansen

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This post is part of the Chinese Gold Market Essentials series. Click here to go to an overview of all Chinese Gold Market Essentials for a comprehensive understanding of the largest physical gold market globally. This post was updated in 2017. In the Gold Survey 2016 by Thomson Reuters GFMS there is a complex illegal scheme described whereby criminals obtain VAT invoices … Continue Reading

Q1 - Q3 2016 China Net Gold Import Hits 905 Tonnes

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• Koos Jansen

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Withdrawals from the vaults of the Shanghai Gold Exchange, which can be used as a proxy for Chinese wholesale gold demand, reached 1,406 tonnes in the first three quarters of 2016. Supply that went through the central bourse consisted of at least 905 tonnes imported gold, roughly 335 tonnes of domestic mine output, and 166 … Continue Reading

Gold Market Charts – November 2016

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• Gold Market Charts
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This is the first installment in a new series of articles from BullionStar that put a spotlight on some of the most important areas of the global physical gold markets using illustrative Gold Market Charts from the website GoldChartsRUS.com.

These charts include the Chinese Gold Market, the flow of gold from West to East via the London and Swiss gold markets, the growth of... Continue Reading

The Gold Market – Where Transparency means Secrecy

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• BullionStar
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The following speech, by BullionStar precious metals analyst Ronan Manly, was given to an audience during a Precious Metals Seminar held at BullionStar’s shop and showroom premises in Singapore on 19 October 2016. Introduction Good evening ladies and gentlemen, you are all very welcome to this event at BullionStar. This evening, I will be discussing the … Continue Reading

Guest Post – Jayant Bhandari: Gold Price Skyrockets in India after Currency Ban

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• BullionStar
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The following guest post was written by Jayant Bhandari in two parts. Part 1 was first published by Jayant on November 9. Part 2 was first published by Jayant on November 16. Parts 1 and 2 were originally published on the ‘Acting-Man.com’ website as “Gold Price Skyrockets in India after Currency Ban" and “Gold Price Skyrockets … Continue Reading

Synthetic Gold Leasing: More Details Regarding The “Precious Metals” On Chinese Commercial Bank Balance Sheets.

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• Koos Jansen

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More proof the “precious metals assets" on Chinese commercial bank balance sheets have little to do with the “surplus” gold in China’s domestic market. The “surplus" in the Chinese gold market is the difference between withdrawals from the Shanghai Gold Exchange vaults and gold demand as measured by consultancy firms like the World Gold Council and Thomson Reuters... Continue Reading

European Central Bank gold reserves held across 5 locations. ECB will not disclose Gold Bar List.

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• Ronan Manly
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The European Central Bank (ECB), creator of the Euro, currently claims to hold 504.8 tonnes of gold reserves. These gold holdings are reflected on the ECB balance sheet and arose from transfers made to the ECB by Euro member national central banks, mainly in January 1999 at the birth of the Euro. As of the … Continue Reading

Dear US Mint, We Gave You The FOIA Funds, Now Give Us The Fort Knox Audit Documents!

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• Koos Jansen

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Interim research update. As readers might have seen on these pages, since 2014 I’ve been investigating the inventory audits of the US official gold reserves, which should proof the existence of the metal that embodies the credibility of the world reserve currency. My first article showed the official narrative: all the bars of in total 8,134 tonnes of … Continue Reading

Bullion Banking 101 – Speech by BullionStar CEO, Torgny Persson

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• BullionStar
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The following speech, by BullionStar CEO Torgny Persson, was given to an audience during a Precious Metals Seminar held at BullionStar’s shop and showroom premises in Singapore on 19 October 2016. Introduction What have I got here? It’s 87 grams of gold. As many of you know, we have our own bullion vault integrated in BullionStar’s … Continue Reading

Trump and Gold

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• BullionStar
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It was an event-filled and turbulent evening last night as the results for the 45th US presidential election rolled in, signalling that the majority of the American electorate had voted for Republican candidate Donald Trump. Trump received over 270 of the 538 electoral college votes needed to secure a majority. Trump will now be inaugurated as … Continue Reading

Swiss gold refinery Argor-Heraeus to be acquired by Private Equity investors

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• Ronan Manly
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News has just emerged in the gold market that the giant Swiss precious metals refiner, Argor-Heraeus, has held discussions to be acquired, and that the likely outcome is an acquisition by a private equity group. This private equity group is believed to be London-based WRM CapInvest, part of Zurich headquartered WRM Capital. Other interested buyers are … Continue Reading

Gold Is Going To Play A Role In A New Monetary System. Interview Koos Jansen by ‘Dutch Financial Times’

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• Koos Jansen

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In the Netherlands we have a financial newspaper that prints on pink paper and is named “Het Financieel Dagblad”. Basically it’s the Dutch equivalent of the Financial Times. A few weeks ago I was interviewed by two of their reporters, Joost van Kuppeveld and Lenneke Arts. Today the interview was published as part of a … Continue Reading

Bullion Banks pass the parcel on El Salvador's gold reserves

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• Ronan Manly
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Eighteen months ago I wrote a short synopsis of a gold sales transaction by the central bank of El Salvador wherein it had sold 80% (about 5.5 tonnes) of its official gold reserves. The title of the post was “El Salvador’s gold reserves, the BIS, and the bullion banks“. If you thought, why the focus … Continue Reading

Central Bank Austria Claims To Have Audited Gold at BOE. Refuses To Release Audit Reports & Gold Bar List

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• Koos Jansen

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After years of gradually securing its official gold reserves (unwinding leases) the central bank of Austria claims to have completed the audits of its 224 tonnes of gold stored at the BOE. However, it refuses to publish the audit reports and the gold bar list. What could possibly be so sensitive to hide from public eyes? After the Germans … Continue Reading

BullionStar attends LBMA Conference in Singapore, October 2016

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• BullionStar
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Introduction This year, the well-known annual conference of the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) was held in Singapore between Sunday 16 October and Tuesday 18 October at the impressive Shangri-La Hotel. The conference attracts delegates and speakers from across the world of bullion, with representatives from precious metals refiners, mints, bullion banks, brokers, trading and... Continue Reading

The Great Physical Gold Supply & Demand Illusion

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• Koos Jansen

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Gold supply and demand data published by all primary consultancy firms is incomplete and misleading. The data falsely presents gold to be more of a commodity than a currency, having caused deep misconceptions with respect to the metal’s trading characteristics and price formation. Numerous consultancy firms around the world, for example Thomson Reuters GFMS, Metals … Continue Reading

Tracking the gold held in London: An update on ETF and BoE holdings

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• Ronan Manly
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Just over a year ago, gold researchers Nick Laird, Bron Suchecki, Koos Jansen and myself took a shot at estimating how much physical gold was accounted for in London within the gold-backed ETFs and under Bank of England custody. The results of that exercise are highlighted in September 2015 articles “How many Good Delivery gold bars are in … Continue Reading

From Bank of England to LBMA - The 'Independent' Chair of the LBMA Board

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• Ronan Manly
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In a recent article titled “Blood Brothers: The Bank of England and the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA)“, I charted the extremely close historical and contemporary relationship between the LBMA and the Bank of England. This article highlighted that: the LBMA was established in 1987 by the Bank of England the original bullion bank founding members … Continue Reading

How Constant Is Gold’s Purchasing Power?

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• Koos Jansen

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An often-perceived analysis in the gold community is that gold is the constant in our global economy. But is this true? Yes and no. Allow me to share my observations. Although gold has an exceptionally constant nature, and we have yet to see another currency that can compete with gold’s constant nature, the reality is, … Continue Reading

Blood Brothers: The Bank of England and the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA)

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• Ronan Manly
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The London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) is a London-based, globally active, trade association for “the promotion and regulation of commerce relating to the London Bullion Market”. The “London Bullion Market” here collectively refers to the London Gold Market and the London Silver Market. The remit of the LBMA has very recently also been extended to … Continue Reading

From Gold Trains to Gold Loans – Banca d’Italia’s Mammoth Gold Reserves

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• Ronan Manly
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Italy’s gold has had an eventful history. Robbed by the Nazis and taken to Berlin. Loaded on to gold trains and sent to Switzerland. Flown from London to Milan and Rome. Used as super-sized collateral for gold backed loans from West Germany while sitting quietly in a vault in New York. Leveraged as a springboard … Continue Reading

Guest Post: "Very skeptical" judge - former FBI/SEC official eyes London gold and silver fix lawsuits

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• Ronan Manly
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Written by Allan Flynn, specialist researcher in aspects of gold and silver. Five months have lapsed without decision, since London gold and silver benchmark-rigging class action lawsuits received a cool response in a Manhattan court. Transcripts from April hearings show, in the absence of direct evidence, the claims dissected by a “very skeptical” judge, and criticized … Continue Reading

Infographic: The Indian Gold Market

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• BullionStar
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The Indian gold market is one of the world’s largest and most extensive gold markets, with an estimated 23,000 tonnes of private gold held within India’s borders. In India, gold is revered and held as a traditional form of savings and wealth preservation, particularly in the form of gold jewellery. With minimal gold mining production, … Continue Reading

Additional Gold & Silver & Platinum Coins GST-free in Singapore

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• BullionStar
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Starting 1 September 2016, the exemption of gold, silver and platinum coins from Goods and Services Tax (GST) in Singapore has been extended. The following coins, all available for ordering at BullionStar.com, are now available for purchase without any GST. The updated IRAS Guide on Exemption of Investment Precious Metals (IPM) can be found here. United … Continue Reading

Chinese Gold Bar Photos – Lost in Translation

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• Ronan Manly
• 11 Comments

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China is now in pole position as regards annual global gold mining output. Much if not all of Chinese domestic gold mining output is refined into standard gold by Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) approved refiners and then sold through the SGE. A lot of recycled gold in China also flows through the same refineries. As of … Continue Reading

China’s Rising Gold ETF Market: A Hybrid

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• Koos Jansen

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This post is part of the Chinese Gold Market Essentials series. Click here to go to an overview of all Chinese Gold Market Essentials for a comprehensive understanding of the largest physical gold market globally. This post was updated in 2017. In 2013 we’ve witnessed the inception of the Chinese gold ETF market. At first demand for the gold ETFs was neglectable, as … Continue Reading