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Ronan Manly is a precious metals analyst with BullionStar whose blogs
often cover current themes including what's going on in the
London gold market and the gold activities of central banks.
Ronan Manly
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The modern financial system is built on an assumption so deeply accepted that it is rarely tested: that the institutions and infrastructure standing behind financial assets will remain trustworthy. That assumption holds only in a world where the institutions holding the financial system together act the same way today and tomorrow as they acted yesterday. … Continue Reading 
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In the second quarter of 2026, central banks bought a combined 289 tonnes of gold — the highest second-quarter figure on record, and 62% above the same period in 2025. More telling than the volume was the timing: they kept buying as the gold price corrected sharply.
Central banks are not simply responding to the price. The objective is to acquire physical gold, not to profit... Continue Reading
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China’s planned SGE Hong Kong vault marks a pivotal step in global gold trading, making yuan-denominated bullion more accessible to international investors.
By leveraging Hong Kong’s trusted financial and legal environment, China is directly challenging Western dominance in gold price discovery and settlement.
This move accelerates the yuan’s internationalisation... Continue Reading
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Trump’s import tariffs on Canada and Mexico, including on gold and silver, have triggered a major market dislocation.
COMEX precious metals prices are higher than London’s, drawing metal from Europe into New York and deepening a gold shortage in the LBMA system and at the Bank of England.
With the world now competing for London’s dwindling gold supply, this is... Continue Reading
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As Trump's countdown to the White House begins, he is increasingly threatening tariffs against a host of countries worldwide.
While his tariff playbook aims to improve trade deal negotiations, it also triggers collateral damage, ignites trade wars and escalates global economic uncertainty and inflation.
In such an environment gold and silver shine as safe-haven... Continue Reading
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Central banks worldwide are doubling down on gold, continuing a trend that began in 2010 and which has accelerated over the last three years.
From Central Europe to the Middle East, and from Central Asia to India and China, monetary authorities are scrambling to accumulate the world's preeminent reserve asset, and unreported buying is fueling intrigue.
With 2022 and... Continue Reading
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The gold bull market of 2024 has already seen the US dollar gold price rising by 30% since early March. Not only has the gold price been making new all time highs in US dollar terms but it has been making new all time highs in all major fiat currencies.
While the drivers of this gold price surge are numerous and varied, they include heightened geopolitical risk, a shift by... Continue Reading
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The worldwide rollout of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) is rapidly gaining momentum with nearly every central bank across the world involved in planning and developing a CBDC.
Pushed by an unaccountable elite fronted by the BIS, the Atlantic Council, and the IMF, CBDCs represent a very real threat to economic freedom and liberty.
There has however been some... Continue Reading
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This year is shaping up to be a perfect storm for political risk and uncertainty, given the upcoming US presidential and Congress elections, and major shifts in the political landscapes of France and the UK.
Political uncertainty and government policy shifts increase economic uncertainty and impact investor sentiment, pushing investors to seek safe haven assets such as gold due... Continue Reading
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Zimbabwe's latest currency, the ZiG, is backed by gold and foreign exchange reserves, and has been launched amid hopes of stabilising the economy and reining in inflation.
Yet, amid public scepticism and the risk of overprinting, it remains to be seen whether the ZiG will be successful or end up doomed like its predecessors. Continue Reading
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Central banks have been one of the most important drivers of gold demand in recent times, collectively buying over 1000 tonnes of gold in each of 2022 and 2023. This trend is now continuing into 2024, with emerging market central banks being the main buyers. Continue Reading
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The physical silver market has been in deficit for 3 years now, with demand far exceeding supply. This trend is set to continue into 2024, and above ground silver stockpiles are quickly vanishing.
To make matters worse, Silver Institute / Metals Focus reports exclude many types of silver demand, which means that silver demand is even higher than the market thinks it... Continue Reading
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Following monthly, weekly and daily new highs in the US dollar gold price late last week, gold’s price action has been even more dramatic in the opening trading hours of the first full week of December.
But after surging $70 to another all-time high of $2143 in the first half an hour of trading, the gold price then fell more than $120 back to $2020 when London and Wall... Continue Reading
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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